Like a Star
by WastingWishes
Summary: Sakura is yet to know that her closest penpal is actually the all famous singer Uchiha Sasuke, she'd definitely have fun I'm sure. SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

**Like a Star**

**01**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, never will.**

**A/N:**_ Do enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it._

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He sang to her so beautifully, holding onto his guitar and played it like fluid, hitting tones and notes with his perfect melodic voice. She could only smile when his onyx eyes shuts to the intensity of the song.

She sat down there, listening to the song he had written for her. The song he had dedicated his life trying to compose, because he needed it to be perfect. Just like how his feelings for her were.

After he finished, he set the instrument down with great care. He turned to look at her and his eyes sparkled by the flicker of light coming from the fireplace. On the couch she had sat next to him, he grinned while pulling her closer.

He embraced her to his warmth, melting winter away from her heart.

"I love you."

"I love you too…"

--

**RINGG. RINGGG. RINGG. RINGGGGGG.**

The young teenage girl shot up from her sleep. Damn those no-good alarm clocks! _Damn_ them to hell! They ruined one of her most amazing dream she ever had. And trust me, she had many. Her frizzy pink hair shot wildly from her crown, her tired eyes sparkled emerald. Lazily, she rubbed her eyes, clearing her vision.

Pink hair, _yes you read it right_. This is Haruno Sakura, a teenage girl who is obsessed with an unbelievable beauty and talent, Uchiha Sasuke. She sighed; pushing herself up to sit on her bed then slammed herself down on the pillow again. Pointless, but oh well she was used to it. Sakura looked over to her alarm clock, the smaller arrow pointing to a seven and the longer one pointed to a six.

_7:30am?!_

They must be joking! Why is Mother Nature mocking her desires of marrying the one and only guy she would travel both world ends for?? Sigh, time for a shower. She got out of bed, slipping her feet into tiny fuzzy house slippers. Dragging her rebellious feet across the room, she leaned against a huge poster of a ravenette.

"Good morning love!" she chirped, hugging her gigantic poster that was plastered to her pink walls. She is talking to inanimate objects, this can't be good.

Uchiha Sasuke, just to clear your questions and other suspicions, is a singer; a very _famous_ pop sensational singer. He's probably world top hottest artist ever made it to stardom. Everyone loves him. Everyone is obsessed with him. The only problem is that, _everyone_ is obsessed with him. Sakura switched on her apple MAC laptop and a few instant messages popped on the window.

* * *

**OnyxFlame2: **Hello

* * *

Oh there he is; Sakura's long distance penpal. She must admit, they're pretty close and often he insists she calls him Onyx, its like, his nickname. Though, he really hates it when she asks him for a picture. I mean she still doesn't know how he looks like up until now. So she gave up asking and continued their long distance friendship over the internet.

* * *

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Ohaiyou Gozaimasu! : )

**OnyxFlame2:** Good Morning. Had a good night sleep?

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Yup! Where are you now?

* * *

Oh yes I forgot to mention, Onyx often travels to different places. Almost like every day, Sakura would ask him where he was and he'd answer with the weirdest names ever. Sakura is bad at geography, so everything is odd to her.

* * *

**OnyxFlame2:** Seoul.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** OH! THAT'S IN AFRICA RIGHT?!

**OnyxFlame2:.**..It's in Korea.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Gomen! D:

**OnyxFlame2:** it's okay.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Busy day?

**OnyxFlame2:** Time difference is making me tired, just arrived today.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Gosh! I wonder why you're so busy! ):

* * *

Another thing, Sakura doesn't know what he works as. Everything about this friend of hers is a mystery, but yet she knows everything about him. He hesitates telling her his name, his career, but Sakura doesn't seem to mind anymore. Try having a long distance friendship with a guy you don't even know how he looks like. two years of constant IM's, surely you'd be tired to keep asking for his picture, right? As long as the friendship is good, it's all that matters. But stil, she wonders alot about him...

* * *

**OnyxFlame2:** haha, it is a pretty busy week.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** So how long could you actually stay online?

**OnyxFlame2:** Five more minutes and I'm off,

**StrawberryShortcake75:** No fair! ): I have school!

**OnyxFlame2:** I'll be on soon, just IM me when you need to talk.

**StrawberryShortcake75:** Will do! My mobile is on for texting. Bye!

_**-OnyxFlame2 is now offline-**_

* * *

Sakura switched off her laptop and made way to shower. School was starting in twenty minutes.

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The bus had arrived and the pinkette rushed with her backpack onto the vehicle, holding a piece of toast on one hand and a juice box in another. Sakura popped in her headphones and switched on the radio on her mobile once she had finally found a seat.

'_Uchiha Sasuke is now having his world tours around East Asia! Tickets are all sold out as the usual and it's rumored that this concert will be his biggest hit! Stay tune for more top chart music, only on Ramen FM!'_

Sakura sighed and took her headphones out, switching the radio gear to mp3. She could never travel to East Asia just to attend a concert. Actually no, scratch that, she had _never_ been to a concert before, let alone Uchiha Sasuke's. Dear Lord no, she would _die._

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Class has started 10 minutes ago, and yet it feels like she'd been through a whole generation of 'The Ice Age'. Sigh, school and its ability to kill her with just words and a simple bell ring.

"Hey Sakura." A voice whispered beside her, she turned and smiled at her blonde friend.

"Hey Ino." She greeted back, while the blonde was taking a seat. She was always late.

"Anything new today?" her friend asked, setting out studying materials on to the desk.

Sakura sighed and tapped her pencil on the table in a rhythm. "Nothing much, just the usual massacre of the sea dolphins, sea world and the blue dolphins, and how to communicate with a dolphin. Seriously, could Iruka sensei get any obsessed?"

Ino giggled and pat her friend's back, "No silly, I was asking about _Sasuke_ updates!"

"His new tour is around East Asia." Sakura's eyes glimmered when she felt her pocket vibrated. "Hey Ino, cover me." She whispered, taking out her mobile phone after receiving a text.

Ino shifted her position to cover Sakura. She flipped over her mobile; the message was from Onyx;

* * *

"**Hey, bored in school yet?" **Sakura giggled and typed in a reply;

"**Not only 4 a few decades, how's Seoul?" **Send.

* * *

Sakura kept her mobile in between her legs, because Iruka sensei was starting to have his suspicions. "Who's that?" Ino asked.

"Onyx." Sakura shrugged.

"You guys are pretty close."

"Haha yea, two years is pretty something."

"Are you guys gonna meet anytime soon?"

Sakura's pocket vibrated again and she flipped open her mobile, asking Ino to cover her again, avoiding Iruka's suspicious glare. A reply from Onyx;

* * *

"**Chaotic, you going to Sasuke's concert?" **

"**OMG! It's in Seoul?! I thought it was in East Asia!" **

"**Seoul is in East Asia."**

* * *

Sweatdrop.

"**Wow I really am bad at this. I don't know, tickets are all sold out. Don't think I could make it. That guy is pretty famous and all..."**

"**I'll get u tickets."**

Sakura gasped. "**What?! Do you know how much it freaking costs?! and how could you get tickets, they're all sold out remember?"**

"**I work with people who could help me, don't worry. I'll handle it, you coming ?"**

"**I've never been to a concert. And this one is a month away. I'll have to settle flight tickets." **She replied.

**"I'll settle that. Meet me there?"**

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**A/N:** Not gonna lie, yes Onyx is really Sasuke, but shhh Sakura doesn't know that : ) so that information doesn't spoil the story, I promise you, heck it's actually _part_ of it. I hope you liked it, please do review ^-^ and if there's anything about the setting or the style of my writing that causes uneasiness, please do tell. I'll improve, _I swear. _Read/Review/Fave!


	2. Chapter 2

**Like A Star**

**02**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters that may sound highly familiar to you.**

**A/N: **Thank you so much for reviewing, every comment made my day and this chapter was written for those who'd enjoyed the first one!

**UPDATE!: **OMG wtf much? why did I say South Asia? Aah im such an idiot! anyways forgive me, I make mistakes. I'm _very_ aware of that. Please ignore it. I shall change it now.

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Out of all days, months and weeks, today must have been more hectic than the usual busy buzz. Uchiha Sasuke just had had it with the continuous four-hour fan signing, the three-hour talk-show interview and not to mention the inevitable screaming crowd that would never leave him alone. It's been a few days since he'd really talked to anyone as Sasuke-The-Normal-Not-Famous-Dude and even his close friend, Naruto, was way too busy with his DJ-ing sessions in Ramen FM.

So he took his mobile out — all the while ignoring screeching girls — and contacted his long-distance penpal by text. Oh no, he couldn't call her or that would have messed everything up. He didn't want her to know that "Onyx" was really Uchiha Sasuke — not yet anyways— because he liked the feeling when he talked to her since she treated him indifferently, which honestly was _rare_ considering he was idolized by every living human on earth.

Of course he was grateful for her patience of not knowing most vital important things about him, such as how he looked like and what he worked as and what not. But really, honestly, they were just online/cyber friends who had never actually met and seemed to really like each other's company through the modern world of technology.

So now he decided to invite her all the way to Seoul and to finally reveal Onyx's secret identity.

'Naruto, it's me.' Sasuke spoke quietly but loud enough for his friend to hear.

'What's up?' was a reply from the other end of the line.

'Need a favor, a friend of mine is coming over, I need an escort since I won't be available to pick her up.'

Naruto whistled which made Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance.

'Sure, is she hot?'

'Slap yourself for me please.' Sasuke grunted. 'I'd give you a picture of her and I have everything settled from there. Just escort her while I'm not there would you? She's a friend of mine so please try not to freak her out—'

Naruto snorted at that.

'—and treat her nicely.' Sasuke finished.

By now the other line was quiet as Naruto thought about whom this potential special "someone" could be that Sasuke was willing to do this much for.

'Dobe?' Sasuke called after enduring one whole minute of silence.

'Have I met her before?' Naruto asked curiously.

'Nope, and neither have I. We'd just talked before.'

And now the-already-confused Naruto was even more confused. Finally he answered: 'Sure' and both of them hung up as Sasuke made a run for it from a stampede of squealing fan girls.

* * *

The TV blared with recent news of the international pop-sensation Uchiha Sasuke in the living room as Sakura, Ino and Hinata sat on the couch with a tub of chocolate ice cream melting on their spoons.

'Isn't he just so…' Sakura said.

'—hot!' Ino finished dreamily and licked the last drop of ice-cream.

Hinata, out of the three, was the only one _not_ star-struck, which basically made her one in a six billion — yes no exaggeration there — of being the only one not admiring Uchiha Sasuke as much as others did.

'So Saki, are you taking up his offer for the trip?' Ino asked.

Sakura thought for a while and shook her head, 'I don't know, it's a long flight and I'd never even met this guy before.'

'Maybe you should go.' Hinata said and smiled, 'That only gives you a week of school left if you take the offer, seeing that the flight is on first day of our spring break.'

'She's got a point there Saki, you should take the offer.' Ino supported and Sakura considered.

'Maybe…' Sakura thought and suddenly some sort of realization hit her in the head, 'but what about my parents?' and the atmosphere went silent as Sakura's question lingered in the air. 'Oh wait, they have that business trip for a whole three months tomorrow, so I'm good.' She smiled sheepishly.

Everyone sighed in relief.

'…so' Sakura drummed her fingers on the armrest, 'should I go?'

'Yep.'

'Definitely!'

Sakura was still a little bit doubtful when she finally decided to tell Onyx that the offer was accepted. One whole week in a city she'd never even heard of before with a guy she'd never met. But great opportunities come in odd chances…right? Oh whatever, Sasuke's concert should make up for all of her discomfort. After a few hours of lingering and chatting at Sakura's house, they all went back home. Sakura sighed, she still really wasn't sure if she should go; a thought that was practically eating half of her mind up at that moment.

'To go…or not to go…' she switched the TV off with the remote, '…that is the question.' She mumbled lazily and headed to her bedroom.

A flashing light was beeping from the screen of her computer and everything that she worried about was forgotten as Onyx had just came online —after a whole three days of disappearing which irritated Sakura a lot somehow—

* * *

**StrawberryShortCake75:**** Look who finally decided to show up.**

**Onyx Flame2:**** Sorry, had a whole extra 10 hours of work today.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** That's not cool dude ):**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Nope, not really.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** So how are you today?**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Could be better.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Really? What's wrong?**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Everything is just so crazy right now, it's practically inhumane.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** You wanna talk about it?**

And "talk-about-it" they did. From the weather in Seoul, to the topic where it involved Sakura's travelling there — which by the way, she still anticipated— and the arrangement of whom she was to search for the moment she reached the airport as well as some comfort of knowing that she would be taken care of in safe hands…a bit creepy if you ask me considering the fact that you have never even _met_ the damn guy.

* * *

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** So…are you sure this isn't one of your spamming schemes of stealing my house as I'm on the plane to East Asia?**

**OnyxFlame2:**** …I'm not even gonna answer that. -_-**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Haha I was just kidding! Well actually…**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Sakura.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Okay okay! I was **_**still **_**just kidding you know. Anyways what else am I to prepare for — or need **—** for this trip?**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Do you have some sort of picture of you, a passport pic to send/fax over to me?**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Aha! I knew this was a scam!**

**OnyxFlame2:**** …**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** okay okay, sorry. Yes I do. I'd email it to you and stuff.**

**OnyxFlame2:**** Sure, thanks.**

**

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**

Three straight hours since they'd talked online and it was the longest yet in a day. Don't get me wrong, they both talked to each other a hell lot when you sum up all the hours together, just never in one whole day. And that's only due to Onyx having to go in a hurry, but she had assumed that maybe he had taken a few days off work to have been able to stay up with her throughout the night. But just then, there was someone who had knocked at Sasuke's door and in his hotel-sponsored bathrobe he answered it, leaving the instant messenger running all the while. It was Karin — much to his disgust — and somehow she had managed to find out which room Sasuke was staying in the hotel. So much for confidential privacy.

'What do you want Karin?' Sasuke hissed and a part of his bathrobe fell over his left shoulder, revealing a perfectly toned chest.

A girl dressed in skin-tight clothes leaned in a provocative manner against the door, purring ever so slightly at the sight of Sasuke. He was really close to slamming the door at her face but she had rudely invited herself in and plopped herself on his bed. A snarl of annoyance escaped from his lips and quickly he slammed the door shut incase anyone else would have seen him.

'Get off.' He grunted and ignored the fact that he was almost fully half-naked as the bathrobe draped further down his toned biceps.

'Why would I?' she purred, releasing her red hair from its original high ponytail.

'Because if you don't I'd call security on you.' He hissed, ignoring her attempt of seducing him — which clearly did not work — and headed to his laptop.

Karin was slightly furious but she didn't give up. Instead, she daringly tugged on his bathrobe and pulled him over to her. Sasuke reluctantly followed, didn't really want his only piece of clothing to fall off. She traced her slim fingers across his collarbone which rewarded another disgusted grunt from Sasuke and soon turned his jaw so he would be facing her.

'How much?' he whispered and she looked at him somewhat pleased by his question.

'What do you mean?' she raised her arched eyebrow and purred seductively against his ear.

'How much would it take you to leave?'

Karin snorted and pushed him away, thinking that maybe he would quickly apologize but he was relieved by her reaction instead. She grabbed her leather purse and headed to the door, turning back to give one last look that pretty much said It's-Not-Over-Yet-Sasuke and went out the door. He turned around and grabbed his laptop and quickly typed in the empty box of the running messenger.

* * *

**OnyxFlame2:**** Sorry I was**—

_**-StrawberryShortcake75 is now offline-**_

Sasuke sighed and read the last messages which were sent to him before he came back.

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Yo yo yo! Picture is sent! Yattaaa!**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Ooo Oo, still checking out that picture of me huhhh? *wink***

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Sorry I was just kidding please don't freak out from my freakish sense of humor.**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** La la laaaa…abit quiet there…what happened?**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Hello? Onyx?**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** U there?**

**StrawberryShortcake75:**** Hey I have to go now, school tomorrow, goodnight!**

**

* * *

**

Some — okay well, most — of it made him laugh as he checked the time on the bottom right screen of his computer. 3 a.m.? No wonder she had to go off. He felt rather bad to have left her hanging like that, but oh well he could always talk to her tomorrow and apologize, but for then he just needed his sleep after a whole week of chaotic work.

Not to mention the creepy visit from Karin. Eugh.

* * *

Sakura lay awake in bed, staring ahead at the gigantic poster of her favorite popstar plastered to her wall. The darkness had made it look quite shadowy and it was hard to decipher the image. She stared at it absent-mindedly, feeling insomniac for that particular night and she blamed the fact that she had agreed to travel to Seoul. It disturbed but yet it comforted her, all at the same time it had also excited her in some ways even she couldn't explain.

The room was dark and the moon was sitting perfectly framed in the window of her bedroom. Blue light casted through the glass that caused an exact reflection of its window, squares to appear on her wooden floor. The moon however was not reflected in the shadows, just the ghostly reflection of pale blue. To her side was the silent digital alarm clock, which calmly beeped the time in neon red against the black backdrop. Everything at that moment seemed _still_ and _quiet_, not only did the sound of her air vent annoy her but the sound of her breathing did too.

She turned to her side, maybe the position of how she slept might be the problem and so she tried to make herself feel comfortable. No luck, it was definitely not the way she was positioned in. And she was sure the thought of travelling was not the only problem bothering her, it was the thought of _Sasuke_ that lingered somewhere in a hollow corner of her mind.

Laugh all you want, but that dream she had the night before, of him singing to her, felt so real she could practically have sworn that it had happened. But Sakura was naïve not stupid. Suddenly the image of Sasuke onstage she had seen earlier from TV played in her mind, replaying his voice which had enticed her and the thought made it harder for her to sleep. Feeling her eyes shut, she roamed her free hand under one of her pillows and grabbed her iPod player. Blindly scanning through the list of songs, she had chosen one that was the most familiar to her.

And a song that never failed to make her cry.

In the darkness, and behind closed eyes, the first few guitar chords were played and Sasuke's voice sung to her.

_Surely if you remember,  
I have not failed you.  
I only did what I was told,  
What you wanted._

The rest of the song was a blur as her heart and mind sang along with it from memory. Even the darkness she hid behind became a moist blurry wall. Slowly, the warmth of her tears mixed with his voice was the only thing she needed to fall asleep.

* * *

Naruto whistled and it echoed through the silent café.

'So this is her?' Naruto stated more than it was a question, flipping the picture in his hands as he admired it.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, 'Yes it is. So everything's settled right? She'd be here next week.'

Naruto was still distracted by the picture, especially that vibrant pink hair which reminded him an awful lot of Cherry Blossoms.

_Slap._

'Ouch!' Naruto yelled and rubbed the back of his head, 'What was that for?'

'Can you not be so engrossed in the picture and actually _try_ to participate in the damn conversation?' Sasuke scowled and Naruto rolled his eyes up to the heavens.

'Sorry teme, the girl is pretty.' Naruto said as his eyes arched upwards in glee.

Sasuke twitched ever so slightly.

Naruto held the picture up as though missing out a part that he hadn't seen, 'Don't you think so?' he admired it again.

Sasuke grunted in reply, and pushed his dark tinted sunglasses up his nose bridge.

'Okay, okay', Naruto waved his hand dismissively, 'Next Week. Escort. Not freaking her out.' Naruto squirmed a little at that and felt somewhat offended by it, 'Got it.'

'Good.' Sasuke drummed his fingers on the table, 'Anyways I got something to ask you.'

'What is it?' Naruto placed the picture carefully in his wallet.

'Yesterday,' Sasuke sighed and leaned comfortably against his chair, 'Karin came bursting through my door—'

Naruto snorted in disgust.

'—and pretty much violated my privacy.' Sasuke finished. 'How the hell did she get my room number anyways?'

'Eh teme, I don't know.' Naruto scratched his head in confusion. 'Bribery, maybe?'

Sasuke snorted, 'What could she possibly bribe with?'

Naruto snickered mischievously as if he had just thought of a naughty idea but was silenced by Sasuke's stern gaze.

'Nevermind.' Sasuke sighed, 'I forgot the boundaries she was willing to cross to get what she wants.'

'Anyways, off the conversation of Slutty Karin.' Naruto said and shook his head.

Sasuke laughed silently at this.

'So next week it is then,' Naruto went over the things he'd been told in his mind, 'I'll make sure to call you as soon as.'

'Hn.' Sasuke replied.

'Aight.'

* * *

In her favorite clothes store, Sakura scanned through the clearance rack and hoped that maybe she'd find some valuable bargains. There were about two piles of clothes she wanted to try on before deciding whether or not if she should buy it. One whole week, just one whole week she repeated in her mind as she tried to imagine what kind of outfits they wear in Korea.

'Can I help you ma'am?' a lady, sale's assistant, asked politely.

Sakura looked at her and smiled, nodding as she told her what she was searching for. But the moment she reached the topic of Sasuke's concert and trying to find the perfect outfit to attend in, the lady's eyes grew pumping hearts all over. Quickly she grabbed Sakura's hand to another different aisle filled with glamorous clothing —which Sakura couldn't help but to notice their prices, _expensive _— and automatically grabbing piles after piles of clothes from it.

The lady thrust the clothing pile she had chosen to Sakura, 'There try it on!' She beamed.

Sakura almost fell back from the weight of the pile and she smiled sheepishly before walking into the fitting room. That lady, Sakura thought, must obviously be one of Sasuke's fans as well. But then again, who wasn't? Sakura headed into the fitting room and tried various of different apparels that didn't really suit her. But after a while, she tried on the very last outfit and emerged —slightly doubful— from the fitting room and the lady eyed her admiringly.

'That is _gorgeous!_' the lady exclaimed, her tight ponytail bouncing off her shoulder.

It was a mini black dress more of, only with a little twist to it. The black satin was cinched to her waist with a wide golden belt fastened around it. The hem of her dress ended inches above her knees and was lined with sparkly sequins. It was strapless, so the bust slightly enhanced her cleavage alluringly. She wore the jet black stilettos with straps that wrapped around the calves of her legs. All in all, she looked _hott._

'You my dear are _blessed_ with a god-sent body!' the lady said, winking admiringly at her customer. Sakura blushed and mouthed a thank-you, she wasn't used to wearing something so revealing. 'A very lucky one as well to attend,' the lady stared dreamily into space before muttering: 'Sasuke's concert!'

Sakura giggled, she knew very well how it felt to dream about Sasuke. How couldn't you? He was just simply irresistible, _yum. _And now she was attending one of his concerts! Oh lord, help her.

'How much is it?' Sakura asked, looking down dreamily at the outfit. But after she had told her the price, Sakura's dreams and hopes were crushed once again. She dared not to even have asked her to repeat it again. Gomen Okaasan, Sakura thought, that emergency credit card will officially be used. Her eyes rolled up to the heavens as if that would let her off as forgiven. Eh, it wasn't like everyday she got chances like these.

'I'll take it.'

* * *

'Saki-chan! I'm gonna miss you.' Ino frowned and hugged Sakura.

'Take care Sakura-chan,' Hinata smiled and joined the group hug.

'Awww guys!' Sakura said and her eyes were glistening, 'I'm gonna miss you guys so much!'

'Get us some souvenirs!' Ino chirped.

Hinata giggled and pinched Ino's arms which made her flinched.

The day had finally arrived where Sakura would be travelling to Seoul, the day she had both dreaded and looked forward to. Sakura dragged her luggage across the floor and before she went through the boarding pass she took a last glance of her friends who were waving goodbye. She couldn't help but to notice Ino's tears slowly falling off her eyes like glistening pearls which made her wanted to cry too. Hinata's eyes shimmered but she didn't cry, maybe she would after Sakura had departed.

'Take care of yourself, Saki-chan.' Ino said and her lips quivered.

'We'd be waiting here for you!' Hinata waved.

That had made Sakura cry. But she smiled back and took her mobile out, texting Onyx that she was to depart in two hours. After a while lingering before the escalator, she reluctantly went through the boarding pass and her friends —sadly— disappeared out of view. In a while, she thought about it again for the sixth time that day, she'd be in Korea.

And finally meet Onyx.

* * *

**A/N: Alright so here it is;**

**1.I'm sorry for the late update.**

**2. I have no internet in this new house of mine and am very unhappy with the internet-for-a-day cable that we bought.**

**3. I hate Karin**

**4. I love you all for reading.**

**5. I love you even more when you review.**

**Thank-you and have a nice day (:**

**Read/Review/Fave!**

—

8


	3. Chapter 3

**Like a Star**

**03**

**A/N: My mind was blocked, **_**big time.**_

**Disclaimer: Nu'uh. Never.

* * *

**

The place was a joy of havoc. People were strolling everywhere with their own personal luggage and those of their relative's. Sakura observed this as she walked away from the aisle of baggages, long after claiming hers. She couldn't believe she was in a whole other country but as she walked further she saw foreign letters she assumed to be Korean, which she then realized that she was finally there. This was all, in fact, real.

Things would only be slightly better if there weren't this much people around.

So now she was walking down an isle, crowded with people at either both sides of the railings, holding up signs scrawled with names they were to escort. Her eyes searched and scanned most signs but none of them that had her name. This would take a while, she thought.

Sigh.

Scan.

**Haruno Sakura**, she could've sworn she read it off some large block-letters inscribed sign, so she walked back a few steps and bumped into a few people on the way; they all scowled and hissed at her.

'Sorry' Sakura quickly apologized and looked around for that sign and there it was.

Her lips curved into a toothless, shine-radiating smile as she proceeded towards the person who held her name.

'Haruno Sakura?' the boy asked her, eyeing her hair down to her shoes. Said person nodded timidly.

'That's me.'

There was something about the way he wore those oversized sunglasses. It was suspicious considering the fact that the indoor wasn't that bright. Sakura scrutinized his sunny hair and those marks across his tanned cheeks. Something about his concealed face screamed familiarity to her, like something or someone she'd seen around before.

The boy grinned.

'I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I would be escorting you for Sa…uh…Onyx.' He corrected himself with a sheepish rub on the back of his head.

Something told her that Onyx had warned him from telling her his real name.

Sakura smiled and extended her hand, 'Pleasure to meet you, Naruto.'

He looked at her admiringly and shook her outstretched hand.

'I bet you'd like it here during your stay.'

'Can't wait to see more of it.' She stared outside through the sheen of glass. Once she sets foot outside, Sakura thought, her trip would have just started.

Naruto smiled to himself and walked away to the long vehicle waiting outside for them.

And waited for Sakura to follow.

* * *

'Wow this place is huge!'

Sakura stepped into her hotel suite that was half covered in large panels of windows. Through the tinted glass she could see and hear the whispering sighs of ocean overlapping white sand, it was breathtaking.

Naruto carefully set her luggage against the cream colored wall.

'Well…it really is…' Naruto said in awe, eyeing the place for the first time. Damnit Sasuke, and you said there wasn't anything going on between you and this pretty girl, and here you bought probably the most expensive suite in Seoul.

Sakura eyed the tiny figures below the building like block toys moving about in action; like miniatures.

'It's so…high'

The rush of vertigo swept over her and she backed away from the windows.

A grumbling noise rippled through the room.

Naruto stifled his laughter when Sakura blushed red.

'Sorry that was…unexpected.' She said, twirling a tendril of pink hair.

'Don't worry, I bet you're starving.'

Sakura was quiet for a while and nodded.

'I'll treat you to lunch.' He said.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto sat together in a café, somewhere close by the hotel.

It was a simple place, and as simplistic as it was it had the aura of serenity radiating from the gushing waterfall and blooming vibrant colored flowers. The smell was also pleasant, the scent of tropical fruits and baked goods overwhelmed her nose as the waiter delicately handed them their menu.

She scanned over the list of food and it sounded mouth-watering that it made her indecisive.

'So what would you have?' Naruto asked, long after scanning the very familiar menu for the sixth time that week.

Sakura was still looking for something that appealed to her the most, which proved to be slightly impossible; everything sounded and looked delicious.

'I can't make my mind up.' She pouted. 'What will you have?'

'Ramen.' He winked. Naruto obviously knew what he wanted even before he came. It was either that or he really loved ramen.

'The steamed fish sounds good…' her green eyes glazed over the picture of fresh steamed fished herbed with exotic spices. 'I think I'll have that.' Sakura closed her menu shut with glee, happy with her decision.

After long ordering their meals, it was delivered a half hour later. By the time it had arrived, she had dived into her meal, unable to stop her hunger from ravishing it.

Naruto too had long finished his ramen in a mere of several big gulps.

'So how long will you be staying?' he asked, sipping his icy water.

'A week,' she replied and eyed him, 'You don't seem Korean.'

Naruto laughed.

'Nah, I'm Japanese, just like you.' He grinned.

Sakura smiled, 'Are you here for a holiday too?'

'Nope, work purposes. I travel when it's needed.'

'Is that often?'

Naruto sighed. 'Pretty much, it could get pretty…hectic.'

Sakura leaned forwards in interest and rested her chin on her palm.

'What do you do? You seem pretty young to do something that requires that much traveling.'

'I'm a DJ, I host a famous radio station.'

Sakura's green eyes glistened slightly, 'That's _so_ cool!'

Her praise had poked a soft spot in his ego, which resulted him to smirk brightly, happy to be appreciated.

'Thanks.' He smiled and lifted his dark tinted sunglasses where it rested on his wild blonde hair. Sakura couldn't help but to sink in his pool of wide sapphire eyes.

'I'm guessing that you're still in school?'

'Pretty much.'

'Spring break?'

'Yeah.'

Naruto snickered, 'Haha, I bet it's tiring.'

'It really is,' she sighed, 'In two years time I'd be done with it.' Both of her hands made a cutting motion to dramatize her statement.

Naruto nodded, understood her eagerness to leave high school as soon as she could. After a while, his mobile beeped.

He glanced briefly at the screen.

'I have to take this, sorry.' He excused himself and flicked his sunglasses back on.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively, encouraged him to take his phone call and not to worry about her.

* * *

'Hello?'

'_It's me.'_

'Yea, I pretty much guessed from your Caller-ID flashing madly on my mobile.'

Naruto heard Sasuke grunt on the other end of the line.

'_Has she arrived yet?'_

'Oh yea, a while back. Having lunch now.' Naruto stated gleefully.

Even without being able to see his friend, Naruto could sense Sasuke grinning.

'_Where you guys at?'_

'Café Libro'

'_Everything went alright?'_

A ruffling noise could be heard in the background, along with struggling noises Naruto recognized really well as shoving through a crowd of insisting fans. Sasuke was probably on the way back to his suite.

'Yup! She's enjoying it so far. And guess what teme—'

Sasuke grunted.

'—she's _so_ much prettier in person!' Naruto beamed.

'_She must be really tired, shouldn't you be taking her to her room?'_

'Room? That place was a fucking palace. Speaking of which.' Naruto glanced back at Sakura who looked around in earnest, 'What's up with you and Sakura-chan anyways?'

'_Sakura-chan?' _Sasuke questioned the suffix as Naruto grinned sheepishly.

'Don't avoid the question.'

Sasuke sighed, '_There's nothing going on dobe, we're just friends.'_

'Whatever.' Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Anyways I should get back to her now, wouldn't want to abandon her for some asshole like you.' He contentedly dissed Sasuke who scowled at the remark.

'_Will you guys be there for long?'_

'Maybe, she's really cool to talk to.'

Naruto flashed a smile when he waved back to Sakura to show that he would be done with the call soon.

'_Okay_—_I'd be there soon.'_

'Now?' Naruto asked.

'_Yeah. Stall her up, I'm gonna get ready._

Naruto scoffed, knowing well that Sasuke would need a lot of time to cover up to be able to avoid attention all over. He took more time than an average-superficial woman ever would.

''Kay. Take as much time as you want, I have no problem with spending the entire day with her.' Naruto snickered mischievously.

'_Try not to freak her out, dobe.' _Sasuke's tone of voice was a warning.

He rolled his blue eyes again, 'Whatever, listen I'll see you later alright?'

'_Yeah. Bye.'_

Click.

Naruto headed back to his seat and apologized that it took a while.

'It was Onyx,' Naruto answered Sakura's unasked question, 'He's coming over.'

Sakura's heart thudded against her chest; she was finally going to meet him.

'When?'

'Right now.'

She tilted her head slightly to the side and Naruto couldn't help but to think how cute she looked.

'What if he doesn't recognize me?' Sakura asked, she felt very comfortable around Naruto already.

The blonde waved his hand glibly. 'He definitely will, don't worry.'

But Sakura couldn't help herself but to do so, and stared anxiously on the marble tiled floor.

'Cheer up Sakura-chan!'

Sakura looked up at the mention of her name, his voice had enthused the anxiety away.

Her lips lifted to a smile.

'Can't wait to see him!'

Naruto grinned.

'I'm sure he can't wait to see you too.

* * *

Night had befallen Seoul and the sky was a dark hue of glittery purple. Sakura was still at Café Libro with Naruto, chatting the day —soon to be night — away. It was definitely a lot of fun meeting someone famous, Sakura thought, and it was interesting to see people star-struck while asking for his autograph while they also eyed her in admiration. As much as she cared to admit, she really liked the attention. Just a little though, it could get quite annoying.

'It's been hours…don't you think?' Sakura finally asked.

'Yea it has,' Naruto took in the dark surroundings around him, 'Where's Onyx?' he asked particularly no one but himself.

Sakura shrugged and tucked a pink strand behind her ear.

'Busy maybe?' she asked, though she was quite doubtful…just a little.

Naruto shrugged and his mobile flashed with light, there was a message incoming.

'**I'm here.' **It read and the boy grinned.

'He's right outside.'

* * *

**A/N: .Fave! (&Review) **_**-wink-**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Like a Star**

**04**

**A/N: **This chapter was pretty hard to write. Damn. The ideas just stopped flowing. .

**P/S: **Alot of you had requested for Sakura to _not_ go all fan-girl on him.

**Disclaimer: **You know what, sue me.

* * *

Whatever Naruto had just said had been blanked out, she was too pre-occupied with the view of the nights scenery; the flowers vibrant pink had turned to a deep pastel crimson, and the waters sparkled and reflected the moonlight. Seoul was just as beautiful at night as it was during the day, she thought.

'What?' Sakura was puzzled.

'He's right outside,' Naruto repeated, eyeing the entrance.

Sakura turned around and faced the glass door, expecting to see a young ordinary looking businessman to walk in and introduce himself to her as Onyx.

But no, what greeted her was an attractive looking boy, no older than nineteen. He walked inside with a black muscle-fitted shirt and worn out jeans, his hair was wildly styled and he was walking to _their_ table.

'Sakura,' Naruto said which startled her.

'Meet, Onyx.'

Sasuke sat down at the corner of the table, emitting a disbelief gaze from Sakura.

'You are...' she started, but couldn't seem to find the right words to say.

'Onyx.' He offered his hand and shook hers. He grinned, 'Yes. Im Sasuke.'

Naruto looked at Sakura whose face was almost drained out of color and back to Sasuke, eyeing his casual appearance.

'Man, I thought you were gonna dress up?'

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow; he found the question a little bit offensive, 'Why would I do that?'

'Uhh...Geez I don't know, to avoid getting raped maybe?'

His dark eyes scanned around the empty cafe.

'I don't see any media here.'

Naruto's shoulders slumped forwards and he waved his hand to dismiss the conversation.

'Nevermind.'

Sasuke's attention was returned to Sakura's pale face.

'You okay?'

* * *

A few hours had passed ever since Sasuke's arrival. Sure Sakura was a little —okay maybe more than that— star-struck, but she managed to keep her cool and restrained herself from glomping him. She was still sane, mind you, and had the sense to realize that this guy was her _friend_ instead of some pin-up poster model. Nevertheless, they had enjoyed themselves and Sakura was a little more than surprised to sense the comfort she felt being around the both of them.

The place had long been empty so they had done the waiters and waitresses a favor by leaving the place, it was already past midnight and Sakura was exhausted.

'Thanks for lunch Naruto!' Sakura said and smiled.

Naruto shook his head and his blonde hair shook wildly. 'Dont mention it, anytime.' He winked.

The sky was too dark to have any hint of hue in it, mostly just mixes of dark blues and black. The stars had long gathered to glitter a pathway in the darkness which was accompanied by the full broad moon. Sakura turned around to wave at both of them, saying she would just head back to the hotel—

'Are you sure you dont want anyone to walk you back?' Sasuke asked.

Sakura turned around and stopped mid-step.

'You guys go ahead, I'd take a cab home.' Naruto said and started walking away, leaving both Sakura and Sasuke alone.

While she looked around the empty area, she noticed dark sinister alleys and roads that were pitch black that you could hardly even see where it was going.

No doubt, it was _definitely_ not a place for a tourist to walk alone.

Sakura smiled, 'I'll take up that offer.'

Sakura was surprised that Sasuke offered to start the conversation first.

'So, were you startled?'

She turned to look at him, confused.

'About me being Onyx, I mean.'

'Yeah, pretty much.' She laughed. 'Sort of, still am.'

Sasuke nodded and shoved his hands in his denim pocket.

It was Sakura's turn to say something; she despised awkward silences.

'So...'

'Yeah.'

Sakura didn't know what to say, so she said what came up first in mind.

'You look good.'

She mentally slapped herself in the head.

'I mean you know, in casuals and stuff—'

Sasuke eyed her weirdly and shrugged it off.

'Thanks.'

She laughed sheepishly and sighed. 'I'm sorry, I'm still not very used to it. It's the first time I've talked to you in person.'

'As Sasuke?' he asked. 'Or, as Onyx?'

It was quiet for a while when Sakura sunk deep in thought, leaving his question hanging.

'As Onyx.' She answered. 'I'm just so glad to have finally met you, you know?'

Sasuke smiled.

'Me too.'

* * *

As they entered the hotel, staffs and guests that were about to check in gasped and gawked at him, but he shrugged it all away, ignoring it like mere dust. For Sakura, however, felt very uncomfortable being gazed at so intently, she wondered how he was so used to it. I guess being famous had its pros and cons; you never really get your own space to breathe.

After the lips of the elevator had closed shut, she turned around to look at Sasuke whose gaze was fixed at a distance.

'Where are you staying currently?' she asked.

He turned to look at her and she noticed the faintest of red in his eyes.

'Around the area, the hotel across this one.'

She kept looking at the veins that popped red, 'You look tired.'

He laughed silently without humor.

'Aren't I always?'

The door opened and revealed an empty carpeted hallway.

Sasuke held his hand against it so it wouldnt close; she took it as an indication to step out first, he followed her after.

Sakura raised her eyebrow questioningly, 'Don't you wanna go back to your room?'

'After I make sure that you're safe in yours.'

She rolled her eyes, 'I'm not a kid you know, I can walk that much without being kidnapped.'

'You'd be surprised.'

Sakura let out a low growl and ignored the remark.

They both reached in front of her door and stood in silence.

'I guess I'll see you soon?' Sakura said, looking up at Sasuke. Damn he was tall.

He nodded and leaned in, bending slightly to hug Sakura's petite figure.

'Have a goodnight sleep.'

Her heart raced to the heavens as she returned his hug.

'You too.' she smiled.

After he walked away and waited for the elevator to open welcomingly to his presence, he turned to sneak a last quick glance of her.

'Hey, Sakura?' he called out.

She quickly turned around and saw him standing inside the elevator.

'Glad you came.' he said, and the door closed.

* * *

The next morning, while all the birds chirped happily outside and the atmosphere remained a modern fairytale, deep in the lair of a cheap motel room lived a witch; we liked to call her Karin.

So with her monstrous hair and smudged red lipstick, she rose from bed with yet another man she couldn't recall his name. The sight of the newly fresh made newspaper sat lifelessly on the centre of her coffee table.

_**A new fling? Or the real thing? **_that was the headline on the very front cover of the page. And there, framed perfectly in black was the picture of Sasuke and Sakura walking the empty streets of Seoul to the hotel.

'I've never seen her before.' She hissed with disgust, wiping another smear of lipstick from the corners of her mouth.

She looked outside her dusty window and saw crowds of screaming girls and cameras all over, and the sight of Sasuke walking down the streets with his manager.

Her lips curved to a crooked smile, grin, or whatever that ugly smirk across her face was.

_'He's mine—' _She sneered to herself, and took a thick black marker from her purse as she scrawled Sakura's face out.

_'Bitch.'

* * *

_

**A/N: Read/Review&Fave! -**_**hands cookies- (P/S: Sorry for the short chapter :( )**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Like a Star**

**05**

**A/N: **It's addictive, _very_ addictive.

**Disclaimer: **If you keep on asking me, I'd sue you._ Yea that's right._

**Day 1; Seoul, East Asia.

* * *

**

Her green eyes opened delicately, awakened by the soft streak of sunlight coming through her curtains. Wow, that was a weird dream wasn't it? Her actually meeting Sasuke and he was Onyx's secret identity. What a crack.

Sakura slipped on fuzzy room slippers and a hotel sponsored bathrobe.

Wait. Where was she? She wasn't in her room—Oh yea that's right, she was in Seoul. Anyways, she shook her head and shrugged on a freshly pressed bathrobe around her sleeping attire; which consisted of an oversized cotton shirt and booty shorts.

_**Knock.**_

_**Knock.**_

Who might that be? Quickly, she glanced over the implanted digital clock in front of her. 8:40 a.m. it read and she wondered who might be knocking at her door so _early._ Regardless of her bed-head state, she decided to find it out herself. Which she did of course, by opening the door.

Uchiha Sasuke stood innocently with his famous oversized glasses, not to mention that yummy Ralph-Lauren polo tee.

'_Meep!'_ she squeaked and stared at him wide-eyed. So it _wasn't _a dream. Stupid Sakura.

'Did I wake you up?' he asked, eyeing her messy character.

Obviously, _jerk._

She shook her head. 'Not really.' She lied and stood aside, 'Do you…uhh…wanna come in?' she asked.

'If you don't mind.'

'I wouldn't have asked if I did.' She closed the door after he had stepped in.

Sasuke snickered. 'I never knew you were such a morning person, Sakura.'

She grunted and quickly smoothed her frizzy hair. Why did he have to see her in her most ugly state? Why _Uchiha Sasuke_ out of all people?

'Like _you_ are.' She hissed, making her way towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. She recalled the incident where Onyx had once been so grumpy when she woke him up by text. Good days, she silently snickered to herself.

Sasuke shrugged, 'I got used to it now.' He grinned and leaned against the closed door.

'Shut up.'

He snickered, more to himself. 'So how long does it take you to get ready?'

Sakura stopped mid-way of brushing her teeth, 'What?' she muffled.

He rolled his eyes, 'C'mon, you don't expect me to wait here for you the whole day, do you?'

'I never asked you to.' She rinsed her mouth and grabbed the mouthwash.

He scoffed, 'You don't expect yourself to just _stay_ here in your room for the _entire _week of your visit.'

Well, what else would she do? Sakura looked at him questioningly, through the reflection of her bathroom mirror. 'Do explain the purpose of your visit here.' She grumbled, grabbing the face towel to dab her damp face.

Sasuke sighed. 'I'm taking you out for a tour, idiot.'

Sakura pretended to ignore that. 'Sure, in what century?'

'How about now? If you don't mind walking around town in your bathrobe.' He smirked.

'Why now?' she murmured, brushing her hair.

'Why not?'

'Ugh, in the _morning?' _she argued.

He quirked an eyebrow, 'Well, it's a fresh start isn't it?' he walked towards the large window panels and watched the sand being washed away in the ocean.

'Go change, Sakura.'

* * *

The sun polished the ground as it warmed the earth; sparkles of golden light glimmered off the ocean's surface. The trees were bright colors of greens and yellows, while the sky had not been detected with a single shred of puffy cloud. Sasuke really meant what he said by '_a fresh start'._

'Remind me again,' Sakura said, adjusting her coral sundress she'd bought before the trip, 'why am I being dragged around town by you?'

He rolled his eyes, 'I invited you over, and it's not like I'm going to leave you here bored to death.'

'I wouldn't mind.' She grunted but smiled at the sunny view. It wouldn't hurt taking a tour around here, she thought. Especially not when it's Sasuke escorting her.

Sasuke ignored her and kept walking, trying as hard as he could to stay low profile behind his shades. He wouldn't want the media to mob over Sakura; that would be horrifying for both of them.

'So, where are you taking me?' Sakura asked.

'Gyeongbokgung Palace.'

'_What now_?'

'It's a palace, built in 1395 by the founder of the capital, which is where we are now.'

Sakura listened intently with interest and when he stopped explaining, she had to prod him for more.

He sighed then continued, 'It contains the National Folk Museum of Korea, one of the biggest attraction here.'

'Sounds interesting!' she chirped.

'It is.'

'How long would it take us to get there?'

'Not that long.' He looked at his watch then turned to look at her, 'By the time we reached the subway, it'll only take us merely five minutes to get there.'

She processed the information and nodded silently. 'Is it opened the whole day?'

It was quiet between the both of them as they struggled to walk through the midst of crowds, many of them whom stared curiously at Sakura and Sasuke, thinking that they'd seen them somewhere before.

'No,' he answered finally, 'Opens at nine a.m, and closes at six.'

Sakura gasped, _'In the morning?_'

'Evening.'

'Oh…' Sakura looked around and caught a flock of white birds searing across the sky. 'Is that why we're out early?'

'Yeah, sort of.' A group of girls slowed their walking pace as they scanned Sasuke's hidden figure, knowing quite well that it was the popstar; nevertheless, they shook it off incase they were mistaken.

'Sort of?' she questioned. What more of purposes were they up so early for?

'You haven't had your breakfast yet.'

* * *

They both sat in a private booth somewhere in a restaurant; A very _fancy _restaurant, but pretty nonetheless. Sakura took a seat on the cushioned chair in front of Sasuke, who removed his sunglasses where it rested on his dark hair.

Oh god, why did he have to be so gorgeous?

'Sakura?'

Damn. Me, Sakura. About to spend the _whole_ day in Seoul with _him;_ Uchiha Sasuke.

'…Sakura.'

Oh my god, look at those eyes—

_Cough._

Sakura was startled and shook her head; she must've looked terribly stupid staring at him.

'W-What?' she asked while pretending to fix something on her dress.

She turned to look at a waiter standing readily to take their orders.

'Oh, um.'

Sasuke grinned, 'It's fine, just get us both the Italian continental set.'

'Would you like juice with that?' the waiter asked politely.

Sasuke looked at Sakura, then back at the waiter.

'Make it two strawberry juice please.'

The waiter jotted the information down and excused himself from the table. Sasuke's gaze diverted to Sakura. She was _blushing._ Not sure from what though, it was either due to the embarrassment earlier or the fact that he remembered her favorite drink.

'So…' Sakura wandered, not sure what to say. Suddenly a thought hit her with a pang in the head.

'Aren't you always super busy?'

'Yeah.'

'Don't you have work to do? Like you know…interviews or something?'

'I asked for a day off today.'

Sakura's eyes widened, 'Why did you do that?'

He looked at her as if she'd just asked a stupid question. 'So I'd be able to show you around?'

'It's your _work_ though, you can't just take a day off for _me.' _Sakura gasped, her heart suddenly hitched a beat faster. She had just realized that he had ditched his work of fame, for _her._

'It's not like I get a day off often.' He drummed his fingers on the table, 'Anyways, I could use a break.'

Sakura felt her cheeks burn. 'Thanks.' She mumbled.

* * *

Breakfast that morning was by far the _best_ one she'd ever had; not to mention pretty darn expensive. But all was paid in courtesy of Sasuke.

_Swoon._

'Where we going now?' she asked.

'Subway,' he quickly glanced at his wristwatch, 'damn, never been in one in a while.'

_Obviously,_ Unless he was asking for some death wish from the suffocating amount of squealing fans. Sakura looked around hesitantly. 'Are you sure you don't mind?' she asked, because she knew the consequences if his identity was revealed.

He shook his head and kept walking. 'I'll manage.'

* * *

The sun was a soft glinting gold, bleeding streaks of honey in the sky. Sakura looked at the Majestic temple surrounded by a pond, so clear and tranquil. The view of trees in all sorts of earthy colors overwhelmed the place, making it an exquisite form of Mother Nature. She walked further to the edge of the bridge, where it was connected to the pond and saw her own reflection from the water's surface. If only the world was this beautiful.

'It's amazing,' she whispered to herself, and saw the sheer image of Koi fish wandering underneath the pond.

She crouched down and poked a finger on the clear surface of water, creating subtle ripples to form around it. She watched with joy when she saw a tortoise paddling happily.

Everyone was too busy being awed by the palace, kids were happy to spot fish swimming freely and the elders were fascinated by the old but graceful structures of the buildings. Sasuke watched this through his dark tinted shades when he realized that no one would recognize him compared to the delicate view of the palace; so he took them off and felt the sun caressing his face.

He turned to look at Sakura, who was enjoying herself.

'Look!' she pointed, at the far edge of the pond.

Sasuke directed his gaze to where she was pointing and saw a flock of swans waddling happily.

'Aren't they just beautiful?' she said to no one in particular.

He kept looking at the whitest one out of the three, flapping its wings before floating calmly on the pond with its partner.

With both of their minds captivated in thoughts, Sakura got up and took her camera out.

An old couple walked across the bridge and happened to see Sakura struggling with the Polaroid camera. They both looked at the pinkette and back to Sasuke admiringly then offered to take their picture of the both of them together. She (Sakura) looked a bit hesitant, thinking that Sasuke might feel the very _least_ bit comfortable to take a picture with her.

Instead, he grabbed her by the waist and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 'Smile for the camera, Sakura.'

* * *

The day was almost over when Sakura had noticed her sudden craving for ice cream. The man behind the ice-cream parlor handed her cookies and cream while Sasuke opted for mint chocolate instead. They sat at a lone bench by the sea, and watched as the sun drowned against the horizon.

'Today was awesome!" she chirped and licked a melting drip off her ice cream. 'You're so lucky!'

Sasuke turned to look at her, holding on to his cone of melting mint chocolate. 'Why's that?'

'For being able to travel to places you know?' she bored into the view of the sparkling pink sea and smiled, 'And get to see all these amazing things.'

He fixed his gaze at a distant point again. 'I don't get to do that often you know.'

Sakura chewed on a chunk of cookie. 'But you really should, I mean you're able to ask for a day off right?'

Sasuke shook his head, 'It was pretty risky cancelling a lot of things last minute.'

Sakura stopped in utter confusion before diverting her gaze to look at him. 'Then…why did you do it?'

He smiled, 'It was worth it.'

* * *

A man, famous for his spiky grey hair and fetish for perverted books sat at the edge of the roof with his mask covering half of his face. 'So,' he said to no one in particular, watching his client chatting away with his pink-haired friend from above. 'Looks like the young Uchiha had found something else he cherishes more than work.' Kakashi snickered to himself and continued to read his most beloved book.

'This shall be interesting.'

* * *

**A/N: What would I do without you guys? –**_**tears-**_** Reviews to make me happy! I shall opt for more than twenty on this chapter alone, prettyplease? :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Like a Star**

**06**

**A/N: **Just to let you know, Geography _hates_ me.

This chapter is for my awesome readers and reviewers! Thank you so much guys!

**Disclaimer: **_pft. _:)

* * *

Ino lay sprawled on her duvet, holding what seemed to be a magazine she'd picked out earlier from a bookstore. Lazily, she flicked through the pages eager to find something interesting, but so far not one appealed to her. The afternoon was lonely without Sakura, and Hinata was too busy finishing her schoolwork. I mean seriously, it was Spring Break, why bother?

But when Ino flicked back to the front cover, it seemed that she'd skipped a page when she was too busy scanning through the magazine.

'What the…' she gasped, examining the picture incase she was hallucinating.

'_Sakura?'

* * *

_

**Day 2; Seoul, East Asia

* * *

**

Lying helplessly on the fluffy carpeted ground, she watched the plasma screen TV that blared loudly in her quiet room. It wasn't really anything interesting, just some old news about global warming dated three weeks ago, but being replayed due to the lack of awareness given by society.

9:00 a.m. _Sigh._

Part of her was hoping that Sasuke would show up for yet another adventurous day in Korea. But she guessed that good things don't last forever, at least she had enjoyed it while it lasted. He was probably making up for what he had missed yesterday.

Her phone vibrated on the side table.

'**Bored to death yet?' **Sasuke had sent, a timid smile made it across her face.

She chuckled, **'I should be asking you.'**

Sakura was too absorbed in the television to realize that her phone was vibrating. Her favorite cartoon was playing. Yes, you heard me right. Cartoon.

After the commercial had taken over, she wondered why he hadn't replied yet. Then she noticed the message beeping lazily on her phone's screen.

'**Guess? I've got six fan-signing sessions due today.'**

'**Sorry was watching TV, that's awesome!'**

'**No, it's not. You wanna come?'**

Her emerald eyes widened in disbelief and took a few seconds to realize that she hadn't replied yet.

'_**Seriously?'**_

Ten minutes had passed without another reply; maybe he had changed his mind and ignored the request like it never happened. She knew he thought it was a bad idea. But as Sakura made her way towards the bathroom, her phone beeped.

'**Wouldn't have asked if I weren't.'**

The rush of excitement jolted through her skin, '**Sure.'

* * *

**

'Ahh, Sasuke-san.'

Sasuke scowled at Kakashi's annoyingly calm voice. He scoffed, 'What?'

'So grumpy today, aren't you?'

Sasuke rolled his dark eyes. 'What do you want?'

Kakashi sat, pretzel-legged on the floor with his newest edition of Icha Icha Paradise while smiling sheepishly at his client. 'Can't your own manager start a conversation _without_ asking something in return?' The wispy silver strands of hair graced his uncovered eyelid.

'Sure.' Sasuke remarked sarcastically, flipping his mobile shut before placing it in his pocket. 'No seriously, what do you want?'

A smug grin appeared on Kakashi's dangerously handsome face as he pulled out a folded piece of paper out of his jacket's inner pocket. He began unfolding it, unraveling a picture before Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke stared at it in disbelief, jaw slightly hanging open. Hatake Kakashi finally asked with a grin, 'What's her name?'

'_Shit_!' Sasuke cursed, pacing back and forth in the lounge with the picture, 'When the hell did they take _this_?' he shoves the newspaper cut out picture into Kakashi's chest—which didn't react to the impact.

Kakashi looked up from his book and took the picture calmly from Sasuke's raged hands, 'Apparently…' he read the article that followed, '—somewhere around 1:00a.m.' his eyes arched upward in glee. 'Why so serious, Sasuke?'

Sasuke growled, eyes narrowing in anger, 'they're only gonna make her life hell.' He held his forehead in dismay. 'You_ know_ what I mean.'

Kakashi shrugged and buried his eyes in his book again, 'Maybe, but at least the question about your sexual drive had clearly dropped.'

Sasuke winced at the memory of him rumored to be gay; maybe there was a bright side to this.

'Still…' Sasuke had calmed down and sunk himself into the soft lustrous cushion. 'She won't be able to enjoy it here without mobs of cameras after her.' He grunted, thinking about poor Sakura who would be stalked from this day on. He burrowed his face in his palms, 'I shouldn't have invited her over.' He muttered guiltily.

Kakashi sighed, having to stop reading his favorite part of the book for the tenth time that day and got up.

'Don't worry Uchiha, you make it sound like she's going to die.' Kakashi snickered which earned a scowl from Sasuke. 'She won't be stalked,' Kakashi paused before continuing with a grin, '—not under our protection.'

Sasuke slightly looked up from his hands, 'Explain.'

The silver-haired man stroked his chin with his forefinger and thumb. 'Lets say if we tell them that she's one of us,' Kakashi paced around the room deep in thought, 'then the media won't be able to get through security which means that her life won't be "hell" after all.'

'Yeah,' Sasuke leaned against the couch, 'but that means we'd have to—'

'Keep an eye on her 24/7? Yeah.'

Sasuke grinned, 'You surprise me Hatake.'

Kakashi shrugged, 'Can we please not worry so I can get back to my book?' he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, 'It's an interesting scene.' By interesting, he meant steamy. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

'Whatever.'

* * *

Someone had knocked at Sakura's door and she ran to check whom it was, maybe it was Sasuke. Her heart squealed giddily. But what greeted her was a boy with blonde hair, definitely not Sasuke.

'Hey Naruto!' she greeted cheerfully.

'Sakura-chan!' he beamed and looked around her room warily, 'I didn't disturb you, did I?' he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She shook her head and stepped aside, 'come on in!'

He grins then stepped inside, making himself comfortable on the wide window ledge. The sighs of the ocean had ceased, being replaced by squawking pelicans.

Naruto looked at her pretty pink dress, 'You going out?'

Sakura turned around from the long dressing mirror, 'Yup, visiting Sasuke in his fan-signing sessions' she gave a big cheerful smile.

'Cool!' Naruto's jaw dropped dramatically then shook his head, 'Gosh, teme must really like you.'

She laughed at Naruto's nickname for Sasuke, 'Why is that?' she stuck her tongue out.

Naruto shrugged, leaning against the window with folded arms, 'He _never_ invites anyone to his fan-signing sessions.' He remarked certainly, so certainly that Sakura felt a smile of appreciation creep across her face.

'Really?' she asked, secretly wanting him to repeat it again.

'Ya, too much "controversy".' He waved his hand jokily. 'So when you leaving?'

Sakura never actually asked Sasuke when or who will she be picked up with. So she shook her head, unsure. 'I don't know…' she shrugged, 'wanna get some breakfast?'

Naruto nodded, 'I'd take you there.' Sakura eyed him confusedly, 'to Sasuke's fan-signing session, I know where it's at.'

She smiled at him—she had a feeling at the pit of her heart that they were going to be good friends.

'I'd like that' she smiled.

* * *

Naruto was in fact, even from first impression, a bright cheerful person. He was always beaming, shouting out words as if people were deaf even when his tone of voice were never intended to be offensive; Sakura found him absolutely charming in ways even she couldn't comprehend. Hinata really needs a guy like him, Sakura thought grinning, she could use some volume in her life. She didn't know why she thought of Hyuuga Hinata whenever she looked at Naruto but she just couldn't help herself but to imagine both of them together—quite a funny but cute pairing actually.

Sakura leaned against the leather seat. Naruto had called in his limousine (which she still thought was abit too fancy) after their satisfying meal at a nearby café.

'Do you have a girlfriend?' Sakura asked.

Naruto sat on the opposite side of the limousine, facing her. He quirked a skeptical eyebrow, "Why?"

Then it suddenly hit her how her question could be easily misinterpreted, "I—I mean, you know I was just wondering,' she scratched her head sheepishly, 'I was just thinking of my friend back home. You guys would look good together.'

He flashed a smug and self-mocking smile, 'Nope, single all the way.' He laughed which made Sakura giggle.

The whole ride was spent with meaningless chitchat and rows of contagious laughter. They had very much enjoyed the ride until they had finally arrived without realizing it. Sakura looked through the tinted screens at the vast stretch of skyscrapers and buildings, the busy traffic and people totting around with shopping bags. It was a busy place, the sort of place where top designing companies were held at, and designed-apparels could be found in.

'Where are we?' she asked, her gaze following a crowd of teenage girls around her age, if not older, giddily taking pictures of themselves by a huge poster of Uchiha Sasuke.

'Myeong-Dong,' Naruto answered, helping Sakura out the limo. 'It's where most fan-signing sessions are held at. It's sort of where most business takes place if not all.' He grinned and placed his oversized sunglasses on.

Sakura nodded mindlessly, still watching the huge building in front of her, standing proudly off its ground with screen doors wide open accompanied by two security guards by each side. They probably need a lot of them, Sakura thought, especially when it's a fan signing held by world's most known international star. It would be chaotic, that one she knew for sure.

So she stepped in the building and felt the sudden harsh blow of air-conditioned air against her skin.

Sakura followed Naruto closely by his side and her green eyes scanned the outrageous amount of people waiting excitedly for the session to start. Most of them Sakura noticed, were of the female species dressed at their best. She felt so vulnerably little compared to the crowd, like a lone lost fish wandering in an unfamiliar gigantic ocean. There was a stage where another platform of tables were formed, and a slightly narrowed space for fans to walk through when they were done. The table was long and rectangular but only one chair was present in the middle, security guards stood sternly around all corners to prevent stampedes of fan girls from running over the place.

But instead of heading to the crowd, Naruto had made way around the back, which confused her, but she followed anyways.

They reached, what Sakura assumed, to be some private backstage. She saw a few amounts of people whom were working with the media gathering to gain entrance but to no avail. There were two private security guards that stood at the very front, evading people from gaining entrance. Both of them wore very dark tinted sharp glasses, one had dark spiky hair and the other had long satin-like black hair. Naruto approached the both of them with ease while Sakura felt very intimidated by their well-built figures.

'Yo!' Naruto gave a slight punch to the spiky-haired man's chest. 'What's up guys?' he greeted both of them like they were really good friends. Maybe they were, Sakura wouldn't know anyways.

'Oh god. It's you.' Nara Shikamaru grunted and hung his head lazily, 'what brought you here? You rarely attend these troublesome events.' He said.

Hyuuga Neji scoffed and tilted his head to the side when he saw Sakura standing timidly behind Naruto, 'Did you bring in someone, or is she one of those VIP lucky winners?' he said, voice was very stern which gave eerie chills down Sakura's spine.

Naruto turned to look at Sakura and offered her to come closer, she stood way too far away. 'Oh no, she's teme's friend.'

Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji quirked an eyebrow behind their glasses in unison, 'Sasuke's got a friend?'

Naruto nodded, as if he too shared their confusion.

'Been keeping it a secret for a long time.' Naruto grinned sheepishly.

Shikamaru sighed, 'It's about time he becomes social.'

'Does he know that she came to visit? Or is this just one of your random annoyingly obnoxious surprise visits?' Neji mocked which rewarded a blow of punch from Naruto to his shoulder. He barely winced at the contact.

'Actually, he invited her. So we better get in soon before he goes frantic. You know him and punctuality.' Naruto rolled his eyes then turned to Sakura, who was just standing clueless behind him. 'It's okay Sakura-chan, they look scary but these guys won't hurt a _fly._' He waved his hand dismissively and the two bodyguards grunted, stepping aside as they granted access to Naruto and Sakura.

* * *

'Oi teme.' Naruto took off his sunglasses and placed it on his wild blonde mane.

As they entered, there was a walkway through which leads to different doors to different rooms. The walked further ahead, almost at the end of the passageway, when there was a huge opening of space, it looked a lot like a waiting room; royal blue sofas and a plush carpet in the middle overshadowed by a glass coffee table. Sasuke was casually sitting on one of the couches, looking very uninterested, and looked up slightly surprised to see Naruto.

'Oi.' He rolled his eyes and leaned against the blue fuzzy fabric, he looked up again when he saw another familiar figure stepping timidly into the room.

Sakura held her hands to her back and shifted her foot uncomfortably around the polished floor, 'I'm not bothering you or anything, am I?'

Sasuke shook his head and motioned her to take a seat. There was something about the way she dressed that made her look different somehow, simple, but definitely different.

'I didn't expect you over this early, or I would've asked someone to escort you.' Sasuke said, scanning her lenient pink dress and up to her wavy pink tresses.

Sakura shook her head, 'Naruto and I went to breakfast, and then he escorted me over. It's alright.' she smiled.

'Good, as long as the dobe doesn't annoy you.' Sasuke gave a lazy smirk that sent Sakura's heart racing somehow.

Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance, 'Shut up and just thank me for nicely escorting her over.'

'Whatever.'

Haruno Sakura just had to laugh at both of them.

* * *

The girls were screaming frantically, some even occasionally cried with joy to see Sasuke apathetically walking across the platform before the table where he sat down, his lack of interest apparent through his face. Sakura saw the mysterious silver-haired man standing by Sasuke with a mask covering the bottom half of his face. There was a smirk apparent through the thin fabric of the mask as he read something from a bright orange book. She guessed that the man was most probably Sasuke's manager, though he did not seem too old, just old enough to be in his thirties.

'_We love you Sasuke!' _came a screeching roar from the crowd, but that didn't seem to trigger a smile on the young Uchiha at all.

All of this must have been very overwhelming for him, because it definitely was for her who stood in a hidden corner by the stage. Sasuke had warned her to try to keep as low profile as possible, and as far away from the media as possible. She didn't know why but it was much wiser to comply rather than to question his motives. It sort of hurt her to think that he was too embarrassed to show her in public, which might be the reason why he wanted her out from the media's eye. Though, she tried to not let the thought ruin her day, and it definitely didn't; she quite enjoyed herself to be part of something so overwhelming.

Sakura felt a light tap on her shoulder and she turned around.

'Haruno Sakura?' the girl asked behind her thick black-rimmed glasses. Sakura nodded and struggled to listen to whatever the girl was about to say to her, the roars of the crowd were getting deafening.

'Are you a friend of Sasuke's?' the girl asked, and Sakura noticed how bright her crimson hair was, dangerously bright which matched the colour of the girl's red lippie. How did that girl know, Sakura had _no_ idea but she mindlessly nodded.

Then her crimson lips tightened to a firm line and curved at its end to reveal a very blood-crawling smile. Sakura winced at the monstrous view before her and smiled sheepishly, 'It may be rude to ask now but who are you?'

The redhead gave out a sick giggle and suppressed it with her hand, 'My name's Karin.' She said, eyeing Sakura's green eyes with intensity. Sakura noticed how Karin's dark beady eyes emitted no light, which terrified her. 'And I'm here to warn you to _stay_ away from Sasuke.' And with that, Karin turned around to start walking but not before giving her last few words of warning, '_I mean it._' She hissed and strutted away and disappeared amidst the crowd.

It gave her goosebumps all over her flesh in the way Karin had whispered the last parts, "stay away from Sasuke." Sakura could detect the threat laced in her voice.

This couldn't be good.

* * *

After a few hours of mad screaming fans and the non-stop headaches from all security guards, the fan-signing sessions were finally over. Sasuke got up with a sigh and brushed a hand through his hair, turning to look at a pale Sakura who was tiredly leaning against a wall. He walked across the platform and stood by her.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

Sakura was too busy in her own blurry world to react to his voice, and then she looked up to see him looking down at her.

'Yeah.' She said quietly, 'just fine.'

* * *

**A/N: Ohhh yes! The dreaded (maybe not) chapter six is finally here! Sorry for the late-update guys, I had too much in mind and I needed to take a break from writing a crappy chapter. At least this takes a slight amount of effort from my side to make it longer. Please do review! Pretty please! -Hands each and everyone of you an autographed picture of a sexy sizzling Uchiha Sasuke-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Like a Star**

**07**

**A/N: **I have struggled _real_ hard to think of upcoming plots for this story. So please don't hesitate to help suggest me ideas, I appreciate that a whole lot! But don't worry, it's not utterly plotless ;P Has an ending. That counts...right?

**Standard Disclaiming Properties Apply**

**Day 4; Seoul, East Asia.**

**

* * *

**

Sakura sat at the front seat with Sasuke, who was driving the car. He had told her something about a photoshoot at the countryside, and she had been very excited to follow. Now it had been an hour since they've been on the road and all Sakura could see were the endless patch of green grass and some kettles along the way.

"Sasuke…" she muttered lazily, leaning her head against the window.

Sasuke looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "Hn?"

"How long is this going to take?"

"We're almost there."

But she couldn't quite comprehend 'almost there' because all she saw were endless lands and pathways up the mountain. "Do you have to drive every time you have a photoshoot?"

Sasuke stayed quiet and shook his head. "I just felt like driving today."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "but they offered a painless ride by your own personal jet. I'm sure that's way faster than—"

"Are you uncomfortable being in a car alone with me?" he quirked a questioning brow.

"No! It's not like that—no. It's just that, we've been driving for _ages_. And you know…"

"What?"

"I sort of…" Sakura's cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I need to go to the bathroom."

His eyes widened and found it hard to find a decent reply to that, because the closest bathroom would be the oak tree a few miles ahead of them.

"So—yeah. How long is this going to take?"

Sasuke shook his head as he stared ahead at the mountain. "Almost there."

* * *

Naruto shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "There you guys are!"

"Hey. Hey—um. Where's the bathroom?" Sakura asked, doing a little dance.

Blue eyes stared at her weirdly. "Um, down that lane and to the left. It's a unisex bathroom so…" before he could even finish his lingering sentence, Sakura had run off towards said area. Naruto looked at Sasuke who just stared ahead, "did you bore her to death, teme?"

"Shut up, dobe."

Naruto snickered and punched Sasuke's shoulder. "You don't have to be so serious about it, I'm sure she would've done a lot better traveling with someone who _talks._" He laughed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Just tell me where the chalet is."

His friend pointed to far East. "You see that wooden house-like-thing? Yeah, that's it. So, are you and Sakura…"?

"Don't even think about it."

"Jokes, jokes—but since you're being really defensive…"

Sasuke glared. "Naruto."

"Okay—_okay. _God you're humorless." Naruto rolled his eyes and patted his friend's shoulder, which earned him a grunt from the Uchiha. "—You're lucky she's even putting up with you. Poor girl." He joked and walked away.

Sasuke picked up his bag of belongings and slung it over his shoulder. "Hey dobe?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder. "Hm?"

"I stopped by some store to get your stocks of ramen—but it seems you won't be needing it anytime soon." Sasuke smirked. "See you later."

Blue eyes enlarged so wide, he thought his eyeballs were about to gorge out.

"Bu—But—_TEME!_"

* * *

Sakura walked out of the bathroom, and wandered around the serene location. She looked around at the proud mountains standing erect from the ground, and the group of birds searing through the pale sky and thought about how lucky she was to be at this stage of life. Brilliant green eyes twinkled as she looked at the rare flowers blooming lazily at the edge of the cliff, and heard the snap of a camera.

She whipped her head around. "Wha—"?

The man, who stood, with probably the biggest camera Sakura had ever seen, waved frivolously at her. "Stay where you are! This is—_perfect!_"

The sound of clicking and flashes of light from the camera baffled her. Then she let out a sheepish laugh, "I'm not—I'm not the model. Um. I don't really, take pictures…"

"Darling, what are you talking about? Your youth seems to shine and blossom under the blanket of splendor! You are _gorgeous!_"

Sakura mouthed a 'thanks' as the flashes of light kept on attacking her continuously.

The man put his big camera aside and grinned at her. "I'm Gai—famous photographer of the youth!" he stuck his thumb up in pride and winked.

Sakura smiled cutely, "I'm Haruno Sakura."

"What a youthful name! Captures the astounding beauty of the cherry blossom! Would you pose for a few more shots, dear fair one?" he grabbed the camera and begun zooming in and out.

Green bemused eyes blinked and she nodded. "Alright, sure!"

Uchiha Sasuke walked in from the far end, running his fingers through his hair when he heard loud praises of approval and the flashing snaps of a camera. He would've walked right up to the photographer and tell him not to mess around with his personal friends, but the view of Sakura posing against the wild scenery told him to do otherwise. He leaned his shoulder against the huge rock by him, and camouflaged his figure silently behind shades of leaves.

Her pink hair blew madly around her, and somehow he thought it looked beautiful.

"Seems you are enjoying this more than you usually would, eh Sasuke?" Kakashi mused which caught Sasuke by surprise. His manager should really stop sneaking up to him like that.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and didn't realize the smile he had on his face. Within a second, the smile had been replaced by his usual neutral expression. "Don't you have work to do?"

Kakashi pondered for a while. "Why? This seems to be more—_entertaining._ Don't you think?" he grinned as he looked at the view of Sakura knowingly, sensing Sasuke's glare on him. He rubbed the back of his head languidly and placed his hand on the ravenette's shoulder. "Anyways, the photographers are asking for you. Make sure you know which one's the dressing room, don't want to send the idiot and get him lost again."

Sasuke scoffed. "It's typical of the dobe." He rolled his eyes and muttered, "I'll be there in a sec."

Kakashi waved his hand dismissively as he walked away. "Again, don't be late. It's bad for your reputation."

Sasuke scowled and leaned back against he rock, he thought that he might as well enjoy watching his friend living in the second of fame for a while. After all, he'd like her to feel belonged to what he did for a living.

He smiled and shook his head. It looked like he was enjoying this more than Sakura was.

* * *

An hour had passed since Sasuke's first photoshoot session and Sakura decided that she should take her own tour around the place. She thought the location was beautiful, breath-taking more of. Sakura walked near the edge of the cliff and took in the scent of crisp pine trees that wafted through the breeze, and felt herself smiling. It was one hell of an experience; she knew that was for sure.

"Enjoying it here, Haruno-san?" Kakashi stood by her side, looking ahead at the view as well.

Sakura nodded. "It's amazing. You guys get to do this a lot?"

Kakashi shrugged, "depends on what the photographers want really."

She smiled, "well, it's an interesting job I must say."

"It is—say, you don't happen to be extending your stay anytime soon are you?"

Sakura blinked. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Sort of seems that having you around makes my client very—hm, what's that word for it. Oh yes—_happy. _" He grinned through his mask and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Sakura quirked a questioning eyebrow, "you mean, Sasuke?" she asked.

He looked at Sakura's dancing green eyes. "Ah yes. And you know what they say—a happy client makes a happy manager. Or at least, something along those lines." He gave a wink that made Sakura laugh.

She smiled but it disappeared quickly. "I don't think I can Kakashi-san—"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Oh please—just call me Kakashi."

"Okay, Kakashi. I don't think I can do that, I happen to be leading a very normal—_boring_—student life back in Japan. Don't think I could just keep, you know, being on holidays. But I so would if I could." She sighed and looked at the same group of birds twittering on the peak of a mountain. "I'll do anything to stay, though."

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his head, folding his arms behind his wild grey mane as if stretching out. "Pity though."

Sakura nodded mutely and watched as the birds soon vanish from view. "Yeah."

* * *

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be an asshole and tell me where you kept my stash of ramen. Yes. I did say _my_—which technically means I have the rights to eat them." Naruto leaned against the velvet couch and whined.

Sasuke grunted and folded his arms against his chest. "No."

"But—"

"No."

"I'm starving—"

"Your problem."

"Teme!"

"Idiot."

"Asshole!" Naruto stuck his tongue out and got up, glancing at his Rolex watch. "Anyways it's dark, and night. And I'm hungry. So I'll do my _own_ treasure hunting since my dear ass-hat friend of mine wouldn't tell me where he kept them. So later." He gave a slight wave and left the room.

Both Sasuke and Naruto was in Sasuke's room when they bantered about the whereabouts of Naruto's stash of ramen that Sasuke had hid. Only if Naruto knew that Sasuke had placed them well hidden under his own bed, he smirked at the thought.

He walked over to the coat hanger and took his jacket with him, putting it on before he left the room. Sasuke felt the lack of ability to sleep starting to annoy him, so maybe he should just linger around in the living room by the fireplace. That was what he usually does on trips like these.

* * *

The night breeze blew him cold, soft air, but that didn't seem to bother him as much. Everything was dark with the exception of the fire's glow coming through the window ahead of him. Someone must've left the fire on.

He stepped in the room and was mildly surprised to see a head of pink from behind the couch. Sakura quickly turned around at the sound of the door and her face softened immediately when she saw Sasuke.

"You're not asleep." He stated the obvious.

Sakura nodded and brought the cup of warm chocolate drink to her lips. "Couldn't. What are you doing here?"

"I don't usually sleep early." He muttered nonchalantly and sat on the couch opposite her. "Naruto kept me awake for the rest of the night anyways, the idiot wants his ramen."

Sakura laughed quietly, "but didn't you stash it under your bed?"

Sasuke smirked and did a soft shush with his mouth, "the dobe doesn't know that."

Sakura nodded, her soft pink strands fell from her shoulder and the fire gave a warm orange glow to her silhouette. It was quiet where they were. The only sound being was the rustling trees in the wind and the soft crackle of the fire. Sakura smiled and sunk in the velvet cushion, feeling the warmth of her scarf and the drink blanketing her.

"So what do you do when you can't sleep?" Sakura asked him.

Sasuke mulled about the things he usually did late at night and looked at her, "I play my guitar."

"Really? Acoustic stuff? That's awesome—I've always wanted to play an instrument. But I'm sort of useless around that area so, yeah." Sakura gave a laugh that made Sasuke smirk.

"I could teach you some chords. Some. I'm not much of a teacher, so teaching someone how to play a musical instrument—I'd most probably fail at that."

Sakura nodded then blushed at the thought of him sitting right next to her at an intimate distance to show her how to hold a guitar.

"Well, why don't you play something now?"

He grinned and blew a dark strand from his eye. "Yeah, I'll just go get my guitar. Have it somewhere hidden here."

So he got up and walked around the brick mantel of the fireplace before grabbing a polished acoustic guitar from the corner. Sakura looked at him, then at the black fitted shirt he was wearing that seemed to be depicting his muscles quiet well through the fabric. It made her blush when he sat back down again, she thought about the possibilities of someone to look so perfect all the time.

Sasuke looked away, trying to figure out a song to play, "Uh..."

"What?" Sakura quirked a questioning brow, "don't know what to play?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and ruffled it for a while then sighed. "Yeah, I'm just thinking of something."

"Do a cover then!" she inquired with a beaming smile.

"Of what?"

"Um…" Sakura pondered in thought and looked elsewhere. "Surprise me." She smiled.

He stared at a distance then positioned the guitar across him before he played the first few chords, testing if the guitar was in tune. Then he took in a deep breath, and started to play the guitar so fluently it made Sakura melt. Not long after, the whole place started to reverberate with his angelic singing ability that it overwhelmed her.

"_You'll always be a part of me  
I'm a part of you indefinitely  
Girl don't you know you can't escape me  
Oh darling cause you'll always be my baby"_

She couldn't help but smile, feeling her heart stuck behind her throat, the feeling of time freezing for something so magnificent to take over.

"_Ain't gonna cry no, And I won't beg you to stay If you're determined to leave girl, I will not stand in your way"_

His eyes stared intently at his fingers, playing music as if speaking a language all on its own. His voice was just a melody anyone finds hard not to fall in love with. Sakura was no exception. It was just perfect. Everything felt like something she had seen before, like a dream of a dream.

"_I know that you'll be back girl,  
When your days and your nights get a little bit colder,  
Oh I know that, you'll be right back,  
baby Oh, baby believe me it's only a matter of time  
__Of time._"

The playing softened, and the music seized to a soft fade. He set the guitar down and looked at Sakura's twinkling green eyes. He smirked, "and that's all for tonight—thank you."

Sakura laughed and clapped enthusiastically. "Bravo! Bravo!" her smile broadened, "That was amazing! Well—_obviously._ Since it's what you do for a living. But still, it was _amazing!_"

A smug look graced over his face. "I know." Then he ducked a flying pillow that missed him by an inch.

"Oh god—you're so up yourself."

Sasuke frowned slightly as he looked at the former attacking object. "Hn." His dark eyes looked around then back at Sakura. "Not sleepy yet?"

She yawned. "Uh…"

Sasuke hid a smile and spoke nonchalantly, "I'll walk you back. It's night time, god knows what kind of man-eating animals are prowling out there now."

Her green eyes widened in alert, "_what?_"

Sasuke laughed at her reaction and shook his head. "I'm joking."

"Yeah—hard to tell. That was mean!"

He rolled his eyes. "Hn, Let's go."

Haruno Sakura then tightened the scarf around her and silently thanked Life for throwing such luck into hers.

* * *

**A/N:** Finally! Chapter seven! It's been like, what, two months? I dunno. Anyways this is for you guys, and I'm hoping that it's a satisfying chapter. I owe you guys a lot for all the awesome reviews/favorites/story AND author alerts :) I love you guys—

I really do.

(Disclaimer: Song is by the all awesome David cook "Always be my baby" a cover from Mariah Carey's song. x] )

Oh btw, reviews please! :D


	8. Chapter 8

**Like a Star**

**08**

**A/N: **_Finally_!

**Standard Disclaiming Properties Apply

* * *

**

The shower drizzles hot streams, emanating puffs of warm steam from the wooden floor. Sakura stood under the gushing water and felt the sun caressed her face in comfort. The bathroom was somewhat located outdoors, where the only thing shielding her from public's eye was the opaque white curtain around her. The icy coldness she felt last night was no longer there, only the smiling sun beaming down at her. The only problem with the bathroom was the discomforting thought of people budging in, uncalled for.

But really, that was just her way of being paranoid.

The water runs down her face, down her neck, and she feels her pastel pink hair being stuck to her back as she smiled. She could stay in here forever—

(A spider made its way down the wall in front of her)

Sakura froze; she had always hated insects with a fiery passion. Now she looked at the hairy critter, with its long thin wobbly legs making its way to her foot. Crawling, like a predator for the prey.

* * *

Sasuke tapped his pen without rhythm on the wooden table, sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sun. Naruto sat in front of him, gobbling down his chicken-flavored ramen. He sighed and looked at his contented blonde friend, contemplating once more if it was even worth it to backhand him for splattering ramen soup on his jeans.

Naruto looked up, cheeks puffed with soup. "You-_mmf_-sure-_oof-_you don't want any?" he swallowed in a huge gulp.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and shook his head when he suddenly heard something and dropped his pen. If Naruto hadn't imagined it, he was sure the look in his friend's eyes was a petrified shock.

"Did you—"

Sasuke was about to say '_hear that_' when Naruto cut him off. "What the hell _was _that?" Naruto said, somewhat out of breath.

That scream, that high-pitched scream could have only belonged to a female member. No one could have done a more blood-curdling scream than that they've just heard. And then, Sasuke got up ready, because he knew whom that voice was from—

_Sakura._

Sasuke darted a sharp look to Naruto. "I'm checking on her."

Naruto nodded, the look of panic faint in his blue eyes.

"Okay."

* * *

He ran, through the meandering halls and wooden cabins, screaming out her name as he went. Then he felt the ghostly warmth of mist coming from her room, and knew that she was in there. He barged in, looked around at the decently cleaned room—save the clothes strewn on the floor—and without thinking, pushed the small door that lead him outside.

"Sakura!" he shouted, the mist around him warm and damp, pushing the thick white plastic curtain aside—

And saw Sakura's large sea green eyes staring at him in great horror.

Uchiha Sasuke, you are _screwed._

His black eyes then widened so wide that it was humanely possible for his eyes to ball out.

She. Was. Naked.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing mini shampoo bottles at him as a way of defense, or attack, in Sasuke's case. She started to screech like a banshee, a supersonic high-pitched scream that made almost Sasuke's ears bleed. "YOU PERVERT! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Sasuke guarded his face with his arms, shielding his eyes from the explicit view. "I—I heard you screamed. Crap. Holy shit. I'll—_ouch._ Okay Sakura, I'll get out now—_stop_ throwing stuff at me! Holy mother of—!" he stammered and made his way backwards to the door.

Her arms kept flinging bottles at him, like an unswerving machine with insane amounts of demonic energy.

"I'm out, I'm out—"

The last of the bottle managed to hit his forehead. "OUT!"

* * *

Sasuke rubbed the bruised forehead with his hand, face still slightly flushed from earlier. Sakura stuttered and looked down in embarrassment. "Serves you right for peeking in on me." She glanced sideways at him and saw him fidget a fraction.

His face tinted pink. "I—I was_ not_ peeking in on you! I heard you scream and thought something happened." Sasuke growled in defense.

"Well…" Sakura looked away, fully clothed now. "…you knew I was in the shower. So," her fingers tapped lightly at her temples, "common sense." She muttered indignantly, crossing her arms before looking away from him. She could no longer hide the embarrassment swelling on her face.

She was right; he _knew_ she was in the shower. Why didn't he think twice before heroically stumbling into the private space? That's right. He thought she was in _danger._ God, women never appreciates the guts it took to go through all this.

Annoying.

After a while of rubbing on his sore spot on his forehead, he looked up at Sakura with that question flickering in his eyes since the beginning. "So, what was with the scream?" he asked neutrally, despite the thumping pain all over his arm and head. Sakura squirmed, and Sasuke saw the blush that crept all over her face.

He got a little impatient. "So?"

"I saw a spider. But I whacked it away with the bar of soap." She muttered, still in that defiant matter.

A spider was so not worth the mini bruises on his arm. "A spider…" he glared competitively at her, "—really?" he smirked.

She snorted and blew the stray strand of pink at the corner of her eyes. "Yes, really. I'm afraid of spiders—they're disgusting. And not to mention completely dangerous when bitten by one, you know, poisonous fangs and icky cobwebs…." She shivered at the thought of ever being wrapped up in one, and imagined those spine-chilling multiple beady eyes looking at her, ready to attack at any second, drools of slick poison dripping down her skin—

"Sakura." Sasuke voice was slightly sharp.

She broke out of her reverie, shaking her head and made a pitying _blekh_ sound. "What?"

He shook his head, almost like he contemplated whether to say something or not, and decided that he better save himself the trouble for later. "Nothing, just go get your stuff ready—we're leaving at noon."

Sakura just nodded and smiled empathetically. "I'm sorry." She muttered softly.

He cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "For what?"

"For…" she squirmed, "throwing those shampoo bottles at you."

Sasuke stared emotionlessly. "They didn't hurt." He sort of lied but the bruises hadn't affected him much anyway, he thought, it was just the shock.

So he walked out of her room, door knob in hand as he proceed to close it behind him, but before he was completely out of view, he muttered the softest, barely there apology to her that it caught Sakura by surprise. When she turned around to ask, he had already beaten her to it;

"I didn't see anything anyways." He smirked, and the door closed, leaving Sakura to blush the brightest shade of rouge ever known to man.

* * *

When Naruto saw his friend walking down the quiet corridors, he immediately got up in the slightest frantic.

"Is everything alright?" he asked in obvious worry.

Sasuke did nothing but dismissed him with the sharpest wave. "False alarm." He summarized.

Naruto blinked, still confused and curious as to why she had screamed so loud, but thought of dismissing the urge to pester him more.

"Oh well. Kakashi-sensei wants to talk to you—something about family matters." Naruto told him.

The ravenette froze but his face remained unmoving. After a while, the silence was broken. "Where is he?" Sasuke asked, the tone of his voice darker than Naruto would have imagined.

"By the wooden balcony, but I think he's waiting for you at the cliff." By then, Sasuke was already gone, and Naruto was left alone in the lounge room again.

Kakashi was about to get on an interesting part of the book when Sasuke interrupted him in his usual stern manner. He looked at his manager with dark brooding eyes. "What is it?" he demanded, almost rudely.

Kakashi tsk-ed and closed the book reluctantly, looking at Sasuke indifferently as he spoke.

"You ruin the joyful moments of my life." He referred to a chapter of the book, which he was interrupted at. "Now I'll have to finish this book tomorrow."

Sasuke hissed, "Kakashi. The dobe told me you had something to say." His mind seethed, but he didn't mean to come across so menacing, the thought of news from his ostentatiously powerful family gave him the urge to be unnecessarily violent.

The grey-haired man had the lazy smile plastered on his face. "It's something we need to take into consideration somewhere else. But I guess it's only fair if I tell you now."

"Get straight to the point, Hatake or I'll—"

Kakashi sighed. "They've got you in an arranged marriage, kiddo, they want you back by tomorrow morning to settle the engagement."

Sasuke froze. Everything froze; even time had paused for him to settle the news in his chaotic mind.

_Arranged marriage._

"What?" he managed to croak, but Kakashi had already waved him off, in his usual languid manner.

He smiled, almost sympathetically, as if he knew what was on the boy's mind. "Sorry kiddo. Fugaku was very persistent in this, I could have reasoned." He yawned, and looked up at the graying sky, thinking about how unfortunate it was if it rained. "But this one—it's up to you."

The blood within Sasuke's flesh seethed at the mention of his father, the over-demanding prick of the century, next to his brother Itachi, who he had yet to despise more.

Sasuke smirked, almost sarcastically. "I thought that bastard wanted me out of the family—I'm too much of a wuss to run the damn enterprise."

Kakashi looked at him, the same fatherly look Sasuke had gotten so used to when he was protecting Sasuke all these years. "I can't do anything this time—I'm sorry."

So he left the dark haired boy alone, walking away as the rain pelted down on them both in icy droplets, pasting black strands of hair in a wet bunch against his skin. A mockery of his agony, the world suddenly seemed hardly fair. Then a voice shouted at him from afar in rippling echoes, muffled by the dense rain.

"_Sasuke!_" It was Sakura.

He turned to look at her, only to realize he was soak head to toe, and she was running at him with an umbrella, regardless that she was slightly wet as well.

She smiled that goofy grin, candied pink hair sticking to the side of her face like wet petals. "You'll get cold! Get inside!" she shielded his head with the surface of the umbrella above him. "Oh wow, I wonder how cold you are—you're _soaked!_ God, Sasuke, you'll get sick! I think you already are, look how pale you've gotten—_Hurry!_ lets get inside." She linked her arm through his, and dragged him along. Suddenly, his colorless lips curved to a smile.

Now he knew why he had felt the agony at the thought of spending the rest of his life with another woman.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry guys, about the late wait and all. You know, it really is my fault—I'm _horrible _at updating frequently, and I think I didn't do you justice by this chapter. Sorry! Gomenasai! Oh god, this is a bit depressing. Yeah, I'll try harder next time. I wonder who the lady Sasuke should be forced to marry?

ANYWAY!

Reviews to tell me how horrible of a writer I am (: Love you guys!

x


	9. Chapter 9

**Like a Star**

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**A/N: **If I insert my apologies x100, will you guys forgive me for updating it really_ really_ late? I've had a horrible summer and the inspiration to write was just sucked outta me.  
I love you readers, you guys make me the happiest girl alive! :')

**Disclaimer: **_If I owned Naruto, then I would create countless steamy Lemon scenes between Sakura and Sasuke. For reals._

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* * *

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn."

"Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!"

"Hn."

"SASUKE-KUUUUUUN!"

"What."

"Aren't you nervous, at all?"

"Nervous about what?"

"Your concert."

"What about it?"

"It's tonight."

* * *

**Chapter 09**

**S**asuke's **C**oncert  
(The Day)  
.

_My heart is screaming 'I Love You' but you don't hear it—  
Because I scream it on the inside_

_._

_

* * *

_

If there were one thing Haruno Sakura had been looking forward to during this splendid (and somewhat, totally unexpected) trip, it would be the night of seeing Uchiha Sasuke perform in front of a worldwide audience. It was, after all, her first concert ever. Now you would think that after spending all those—oh so amazing, heavenly delicious and yummy—personal days with the singer/celebrity itself shouldn't make the concert a huge deal (although it was an added _bonus_) she was still pretty psyched about it.

Now that it was tonight, she could hardly cage in her anticipation.

They were walking down the streets of Seoul when they opted for a stop at some street café. Sasuke was in his usual (unbelievably luscious) black Ralph Lauren vest and dark denims, his chiseled face hiding behind large Ray Ban sunglasses. Sakura was convinced that even with all the really expensive disguises, his hair would totally give himself away—That irrevocably stunning blue-tinted, professionally styled hair of his that Sakura just seemed to envy too much.

"You're staring again." He acknowledged in his usual neutral manner, hardly glancing over at her.

Sakura turned a shade of bright red and looked away almost immediately. "Uh, no I wasn't. I was—Looking at that bird behind you! Yeah, that. Damnnit Sasuke, you're too up yourself."

"Do you blame me for being that way?" He flashed a million dollar grin at her and Sakura instantly felt the ground beneath melting away.

She glared at him. "Shut up."

"What do you feel like having?"

"I'm not that hungry…" She half lied. The reason she did was because she was convinced that she had gained a few pounds she wanted to lose before tonight, but diets were unattractive because it made people look at you in a whole other different way, usually as that 'self-conscious who's never happy about herself' way. And being self-conscious was never considered pretty.

Sasuke eyed Sakura up and down questioningly and noticed her stomach grumbling and roaring in the early afternoon. She just smiled back at him sheepishly and looked at him with bashful green eyes.

"There's something that's telling me you're…Lying."

"I'm _so _not"—her stomach grumbled in agony—"Okay maybe I'm a _little_ hungry—So what?"

"You have to eat, Sakura, or you'd be sick. I don't want anyone coming up to me, especially your parents, to sue me for abusing their daughter to starvation."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "You're not _abusing_ me, and it is _definitely not _starvation unless I come crawling to you for food! The only reason why they would sue you is to get your money but REGARDLESS—It is not abuse."

"Whatever you say. I'm ordering you a tomato sandwich Panini and you are going to eat it."

So she sighed and gave in. There was just something about his tone of voice that was too _commanding_, like she hadn't had a choice even if she buried herself out of the place. Her bottom lip puckered out in a pout and stomped her way down to the table Sasuke had reserved for them both, reluctant to look at him.

Sasuke looked at her, puzzled in expression, and wondered to himself of how much she reminded him of a little girl. He kept looking back from the counter at her sulking figure and sighed, he hated stubborn people—He was the only one allowed to be stubborn around here.

He pushed the hot plate of toasted sandwiches to her. "Eat."

She folded her arms and huffed, still not wanting to look at him.

"Sakura…" His smooth velvety voice cooed and she just wished her heart would stop palpitating at it.

Sasuke sighed and gently kicked her shin underneath the round marbled table. Still no response from her side, though Sakura could feel the edge of her lips twinkling to an almost-smile. He seemed to have notice because he was hiding a smile of his own as well, but he was doing a much better job than she was.

The aroma of fresh toasted bread, melted cheese, and the sweet hint of tomatoes seduced her. And finally, gave in to the temptation of accepting his offer.

This time, Sasuke smiled for real. "Good girl."

* * *

After having a surprisingly calming lunch (surprising in the sense of, no screaming fans or wild paparazzi around), they left in Sasuke's dark blue Porsche. Sakura wondered where they were heading because he had taken a different route altogether from the usual. She looked out at the dull blues of the sky and the countless amount of trees scattered randomly by the street. At some point the car drove underneath huge shades of leaves from enormous trees, casting lovely patterned shadows on the window shield.

"I thought you said you had some type of business call, or something?" She asked, perplexed, recalling the disrupted lunch when Sasuke received a phone-call from Kakashi.

Sasuke's dark eyes remained on the road, avoiding a stupid squirrel that was blocking it. "Yeah, why?"

"Shouldn't I be heading back to the hotel?"

"It's boring there, I need someone to entertain me anyways." Sasuke said but knew that whatever the true reason of tagging her along was, he wanted to make her feel more apart of his life than he was aware of.

She pressed her forefinger to her bottom lip and Sasuke couldn't deny the temptations it gave him from that simple gesture.

"So where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"I kinda hate surprises, you know. I thought I told you that before."

Sasuke was quiet for a while when they were going around a roundabout. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind this one."

She sighed and sunk deep into endless daydreams as she stared out the passenger window. Each passing cloud had a subtle image of an animal, there was a bird spreading its wings, that fluffy one looked like a cat and the small one looked like a chipmunk. Her fingers seemed to be tapping in a rhythm on her knees, restless to the silence that had now befallen on them. The reflection in the rearview mirror was of her staring dully at the passing road, pink hair framing her sweet complexion.

Sakura fiddled around in her purse and took a hairclip out; it was a small butterfly-shaped pin with dazzling sequins embedded on its wings—colors of spring, pinks and purples—and she looked at it with such adoration, Sasuke couldn't help but to notice.

"What's that?" He asked, curiosity laced his impassive tone.

She smiled, a smile of loss and of cherished memories. "My mother gave this to me on my birthday—"

"Isn't she on some business trip?"

"—Before she died."

An expectant silence fell shortly before Sasuke added; "I'm sorry to hear that…But I thought you said your parents are somewhere overseas?"

"My stepmother and father are. My mother passed away on my eleventh birthday…" She explained softly while her fingers traced the glittery sequins as if they were real jewels. "Dad doesn't like me referring to her as 'stepmother' or 'aunt' or even by her first name—So I call her mother too."

Sasuke cleared his throat and gave a brief nod. "It's a very pretty hairclip, why don't you wear it?"

"I'm afraid it'll break, it's been years." She now fiddled with the metallic latch on the back. "I never bought a hairpin ever since she gave me this, let alone wear one."

"Is it that important to you?"

"More important than anything else."

.

.

Sasuke soaked in the information quietly. So her biological mother died and her parents were hardly around. She must have been pretty lonely and he felt oddly sorry for her. He saw something overhead and decided to pull over and told Sakura to wait in the car, and not to run anywhere he added, which she scoffed at and obeyed. He parked the car somewhere at the side of the street and was gone for at least 20 minutes.

He walked into the small boutique shop and an elderly lady greeted him. Sasuke removed his sunglasses and asked the shopkeeper to show him her collection of hairpins (the prettiest ones, he had added too) and she had insisted him to choose among many choices. There were glittery ones like Sakura's, there were simple metallic sheen ones, and there were tiny ones that came in a bunch.

Now Sasuke was confused and irritated at the many selections—How do girls do these types of things?

"Let me see that one." He pointed at the far edge of the glass case. The lady took the aforementioned pin; it was a floral design that resembled an artistic rose gleaming in jeweled sequins of red and burgundy and the perfect touch of pink at the centre.

It was almost too perfect.

"Yes, that one. How much does that cost?"

* * *

After he had returned to his car, Sakura was on the verge of dehydration. The heat was intense that day and she was sweating like a pig, her face tinged red. She glared at Sasuke for taking so long and berated him for it too. Sasuke merely rolled his eyes at her and almost (almost) regretted getting her that pin that caused this headache he was now having. He closed the door before him and started the engine, but before that he tossed the white opaque plastic bag to her and Sakura stared at it quizzically.

She held the smooth material of the cold plastic. "What is this?"

"Look inside."

Indeed she did, and she drew out one of the prettiest hairclip she had ever seen in her life; an almost fairytale-like floral pin that glitters under the intense sunlight.

She was speechless. "Sasuke I…" She didn't exactly know why she spoke to begin with.

"Now you have a hairpin you can wear."

A blush spreads across her cheeks. "Thank—Thank you. It's beautiful." If the heat wasn't so intense, and she wasn't too dumbstruck, she probably might've imagined the smile on his face right now.

"That was expensive, so don't be clumsy and lose it. Okay?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at him but stuck her tongue out teasingly. "I'm sure something like this will be cherished _dearly_ by me."

He didn't know why but suddenly the words came rolling out of his mouth before he could stop it.

"Will you wear it?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" She looked at the pin twinkling in her hands admiringly. "It's gorgeous, why did you get it?"

He peered at her through the corner of his eyes. "Every girl needs a hairpin to wear someday or another." _Or maybe, _he thought silently to himself as he drove through crowded streets,_ because I like you._

_

* * *

_

They've finally arrived…somewhere. She could see a huge dome, stadium-like building overhead; it was humongous. Sasuke still wouldn't tell her where they were, or at least she hasn't really _properly_ asked because she was sure he was just as tired of listening to her questions as it was to ask. There were many people, staffs and random pedestrians walking around.

That's when she noticed a huge poster, the size of half the building, with Sasuke's picture on it and the words "_Uchiha Sasuke's Concert! Tonight! Do not forget to attend one of the most biggest, heated and intense sensational performance of your lives!" _It finally hit her that she was at the scene of where the concert would take place.

Her eyes were so huge that Sasuke had commented her saying that she looked like a bug, which she rolled her eyes at and ignored.

"Hey Sasuke, why are we here?"

He grinned his infamous grin at her. "You're about to see the making, the backstage, up-close and personal of _my_ concert. Everything that has to be prepared before the big night."

Her heart went _thud-thud-thud_ to a rapid _t-t-t-t-t-thud. _ She wasn't even sure if it was the idea of the excitement of this whole experience or his smile itself.

Sasuke placed a hand at the small of her back and felt her shudder beneath his touch, whether from shock or delight he couldn't tell; but he loved every second of it.

"Shall we go inside?" his grin splayed once more and it twinkled in her eyes too brightly.

She was convinced that she could die anytime soon from his wicked charms.

.

.

Kakashi waved his hand from afar at the arriving couple. "Sakura! Hello there! Wasn't expecting to see you here." His eyes arched upwards as he smiled.

"Neither was I, really." It was an infectious smile and she returned one back.

Now the grey-haired man looked at Sasuke expectantly, as if he knew exactly what he had to do. "Right, your dressing room is at the far left by the equipment room. We got all the sound system fixed up, so your rehearsal is in 5 minutes. Don't waste time." He waved his hand dismissively then switched his glance back to Sakura who was as confused as a lost mouse. "You can watch, you know."

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" came a booming voice that echoed throughout the inside of the stadium. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Kakashi shook his head when Naruto came pouncing on Sakura for a huge hug.

"N-Naruto! H-Hi!" She choked out as his muscled arms wrapped firmly around her petite body, squeezing the air out of her lungs.

The blonde gave a manly punch to Sasuke's shoulder, which was rewarded by a nod from the ravenette. "Man, I didn't know you were bring her along! Now it won't be too boring as these things usually are—"

Sasuke scoffed. "It's only boring because you keep getting lost, Dobe."

"Do you blame me? This place is bloody huge!"

Sakura couldn't agree more. It was slightly dark than it was outside, it resembled a little of a basement only with many thick wires that writhed around poles, sound systems scattered around, more electrical equipment placed at the corners of the place and many doors to many rooms she was probably never going to find out. The area was quite big, almost the size of a proper football pitch and they were only backstage.

She coughed and gained both of the males' attentions; Kakashi was long gone to settle some technical problems. "So…where's the concert at?"

Naruto yawned. "Outside."

"Can I see?"

Sasuke shrugged his shoulder and walked ahead, looking back at Sakura to follow him. "You'd want to follow me, or you'd get lost too, Sakura."

She regarded the many hallways and junctions within the room that lead to total darkness. "I'm not the least bit surprised."

* * *

If she thought the backstage was huge, she must've greatly mistaken as she set foot on the grounds of the dome. The area was at _least_ the size of five football pitches merged together, with an unbelievably huge platform at the corner, a broad and extensive screen at the back with many complicated wirings of colored lights.

This was the concert. This was where she would watch Sasuke perform, live, tonight.

Her mouth gaped, as her eyes were wide with awe. "Woooooooooow…This is _huge!_ Gigantic! Aren't you nervous?"

Naruto must have tagged along because he had answered for Sasuke. "Teme? Nervous? Ha, I wish to live until I see that day. He's pretty much used to all these fancy-wancy stuff. To him, this is just another _one-of-those_-concerts."

The broadness of the area caught her heart in her throat; she was finally going to see him perform. Live. Just like she had always wished to do one day. The heat of the day had softened to gentle warmth and the sunlight wasn't as bright anymore. Sasuke had his hands shoved in his pockets in a laidback manner, looking around with lack of interest and Naruto was fiddling with his broad sunnies. The blonde was sporting a crisp white button-down tee, collars popped around the neck, with baggy low-ride jeans.

Tch, these celebrities, they always _had_ to look so amazing; it puts her simple pink polo tee and beige pants to shame.

A staff ran up to Sasuke, having a tiny microphone hidden in her ears and signaled Sasuke to get back inside, _rehearsal_ she mouthed and he nodded at her.

His coarse fingers wrapped around Sakura's slender wrist and she looked up in surprise. He gestured his head to the building, signaling her to follow with. Willingly she skipped by his side and waited for Naruto to come with but realized that the blonde was long gone.

Sakura whipped her head around frantically. "Hey, where's Naruto?"

A faint voice echoed for help.

Sasuke snickered. "The idiot is probably lost again."

* * *

There goes the sunset, Sakura thought as she watched the horizon mutely as it bled streaks of cotton candy pinks to the sky and veins of fiery reds. She was behind the elevated platform where the rehearsal was taking place and the choreographer was having a word with Sasuke and he seemed to be listening with some intensity.

"So in 1, 2, 3 you—"

The conversations were a mumbling drone in her ears as she stared at Sasuke from behind. _This is considered stalking to a whole new level, _she told herself but shook her head as the music started in the distance. The ravenette tested his microphone, the many electrical accessories that were on him and started to rehearse through countless amount of songs. She was so mesmerized by the way his voice reverberated with her heart, and the way his body moved as swiftly as a soundless cat that she was lost in a day dream.

After about five songs rehearsed thoroughly, Sasuke was drenched in sweat. Sakura handed him a hand towel that she had picked out by his dressing room and a room-temperature water bottle. He thanked her and sat at the edge of the platform where Sakura joined, her sleek calves dangling to and fro, body leaning forward in her timid manner.

"It's a bit tiring to just sit and watch, isn't it?" He said and took a long swallow of the water.

She shook her head and looked at the patches of grass beneath. "No, it was actually pretty cool. I can only imagine how tired _you_ must be, jumping around with…dancers."

Sasuke chuckled and wiped the moisture from his lips with the back of his hand in one swift movement.

"Jealous?" He grinned.

Sakura hid a blush and looked away. "Pfft, no. Why would I be? You probably have slept with majority of them anyway."

He frowned slightly at her remark and Sakura noticed.

"I'm not that kind of guy, you know Sakura?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so crude. But you're so popular it's hard not to follow that train of thought." She frowned herself and watched as the sky darkened overhead.

"I have my limits." He muttered in finality and stared at the broad vacant space before him. "Tonight is going to be crowded."

Sakura nodded. "I can only imagine…"

He looked at her with wondering dark eyes. "You'll definitely be here right?"

"Yeah, definitely!" She quirked an infectious chirping smile that almost made _him_ smile.

"Promise me something."

"Hm?"

"Try not to blend in the crowd too much. Stand close where I can see you."

Sakura tried to read the ever-so-neutral expression on his face but couldn't read any meaning. "Why?"

There was a smile, Sakura was convinced, or was it a grin or maybe a snicker. But there was something dancing on his lips when he said;

"It'll just make tonight more special."

.

* * *

**A/N: ***Starts playing _SorrySorry _by Super Junior* Oh god guys, I tried my best to reward you guys with a longer chapter. A _way _longer chapter than I am used to :)

I have a question for you guys, would you like this story to be mainly focused on SasuSaku or would you like some clips of Ino's and Hinata's life back in Konoha? Or maybe even snippets of Naruto's life and whatnot.

And are you guys tired of how the story is taking ridiculously slow to get to the climax, or are you happy with longer paces and longer chapters? All opinions and criticism are _very _welcome in my review box!

Also, would you guys would like to maintain the fluffiness of this story or would you like to add something more? *Suggest in reviews, I promise to consider them* I hope my story is still entertaining you lovely readers!

_IHeartYou._


	10. Chapter 10

**C**hapter **10**

**(Expect the Unexpected)**

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**Like a Star**

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**A/N: **Um… /dodges flying rotten tomatoes/ I love you all and I'm sorry for this really late chapter. But review and tell me how you like it!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Naruto, there would already be little Uchiha babies running around the manor with pink hair.

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"Hey man, nice job today—tonight is going to be _dope_."

Sasuke ran his fingers through his sweaty dark hair. "Maybe, thanks." A mint colored towel was wrapped around his thick neck, damp and moist from all his hard work.

The ravenette grunted and rolled his eyes upwards to the gods to get this day over and done with already, he was exhausted yet he still had another two hours to perform in front of audiences. Once Sasuke reached his dressing room he removed his shirt to relieve the excessive heat.

His phone was bleeping; he proceeded to check it.

"**Be careful Uchiha," **it read and Sasuke squinted his eyes to adapt to the sudden brightness, "**I'm always watching you."**

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In the hotel room, Sakura frantically rushed to get ready. After having been sent home by Naruto, she hadn't delayed much time. To her dismay, she was still taking too long to get her hair sorted.

"Ugh" she grunted, positioning the smoking hot hair curler with difficulty, "why can't things work _right_ for once."

After achieving the polished look she was aiming for, her eyes regarded the reflection before her. Pink curls, black dress, high heels, smoky eyes…things seemed to be going just fine, she mentally approved of herself. However something was missing—_something_ that would complete and tie everything up.

That's right; Sasuke's bejeweled hairpin. It could be pictured perfectly—Sasuke seeing her amongst the crowd wearing it and having his attention caught off-guard.

Smiling at the pleasing thought, Sakura made way across the room when she heard the gentle _ding_ of the room's doorbell.

"Who is it?" Sakura called out, preoccupied with digging her accessories out. "I'm almost ready!" she answered to no one, assuming that the person waiting was her escort/driver/Naruto.

There was no reply but another _ding._ Sakura cursed to herself and trotted over to her door, opening it to reveal a thick man dressed head to toe in a black suit…and a scarred face. Maybe it was someone Sasuke had sent over—after all, he never really tells her anything prior to it happening.

"Y-Yes?" Sakura stuttered, her eyes widened in slight alarm.

"Haruno Sakura?" a deep gravelly voice asked.

"Yes, it's I—I mean yeah, it's me," she swallowed a lump in her now bone-dry throat. "Who are you? Did Sasuke send you here?"

A grin spreads across his face. "You can put it that way."

Sakura looked back at the glinting pin on the edge of her bed. "Um, well I'm almost ready, I just have to—"

The stranger pushed her inside with a force that startled her, one hand around her throat and another on her mouth preventing any form of sound to escape. The pinkette was elevated an inch from the floor as she struggled to swing her legs at him, to no avail. Swing. Hit. Swing. Hit. Bite. Scream. He was obviously too strong for her and after a while she had lost momentary consciousness due to the lack of air.

Two men, dressed identically to the stranger, came into view and continued to wrap a red cloth around her mouth. Sakura was carried out to a strange limousine and did not regain consciousness for a while.

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"Naruto—"

The blonde's mouth puffed up with ramen soup. "Mmf-what?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What in kami's name are you still doinghere?"

"Eating, if you still haven't figured that one out yet, teme."

A sigh. "Do you know what is happening in two hours?"

Naruto, clueless, just stared at his friend because he knew the obvious answer. "Yes, your concert—your _point_?"

"Do you know who else is supposed to be here but _can't_ due to your inability to be bloody _punctual_?"

The whiskered man scratched his head, still clueless. "S-Sakura?" Finally the realization hit him, he was supposed to pick her up _an hour ago_ and he mentally slapped himself. "Shit—man I'm sorry, I completely forgot!"

Sasuke grunted and plopped himself down on the couch across his friend's. "Nevermind that, you can pick her up later, maybe she's still getting ready."

Naruto noticed Sasuke's obvious frustration. "Teme, I'm sorry but man it's not that big of a mistake to get you so worked up."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I got another weird anti-fan threat."

"You get those a lot teme."

"Unlike the other idiotic messages, I couldn't trace this idiot's IP address."

"Get Kakashi-san to do it. That man works magic with all that technology shit." Naruto slurped the last string of fat noodle. "Once I accidentally shipped my phone to Brazil and he tracked it, and mailed it back to me within the next 5 minutes. Like who in hell's name does that kinda stuff, it's crazy."

Sasuke reached for his mobile phone, pressed a few buttons, then tossed it over to Naruto who missed. The blonde growled and rubbed his forehead, cursing his friend. "Read it." Sasuke said unapologetically.

A snicker, which was later followed with a faltering expression. "Eh teme…this is kind of creepy." A new notification appeared and Naruto jumped at the sudden vibration in his hand. "New message for you, I'm guessing it's from that creep again." Naruto looked up wearily at Sasuke but the ravenette sat impassively still. "**We have your friend—do as we say, or she goes." **He read out loud.

"'Your friend'? Who could that possibly mean—"

An unpleasant realization hit the young prodigy. "Naruto, get your car."

Naruto too shared the same thought and nodded, he rushed out of the building without a word of protest.

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"Shit teme—she's gone. I checked everywhere, even asked the receptionist. They saw a few men carrying her out, thought they were with us."

In frustration Sasuke cursed to no one but himself and kicked at the side table next to him. "I should have called her. I'm such a fucking _idiot."_

Kakashi walked in, no longer in his languid manner, a serious glare graced his face. "I tracked the whereabouts of that message—"

"Told you he was pro," Naruto received a slap on the head from the ravenette for interrupting.

"—it comes from a site, shoe warehouse, around 20 minutes from here"

Hyuuga Neji stood stoically in his uniform with his arms folded against his chest, "Nara and I could get there in less than 15." Shikamaru nodded in a corner, no longer sleep deprived. "No need for jets—we're on it."

Both Kakashi and Sasuke nodded before the two men rushed out of the building.

"I just don't get it, why would they want Sakura? Why _her_ out of all people?" Sasuke scowled and punched the dry wall to relieve his anger.

"Someone knows." Kakashi mused. "Someone is clearly watching you, Uchiha-san."

The aforementioned boy raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Funny, I had an email saying just that. But that doesn't make any fucking sense."

"No time to waste, we have to leave _now_," Kakashi narrowed his eyes at a tiny black object glinting in a corner, "—we're being watched."

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A muffled scream can be heard in the heart of the building; Haruno Sakura was tied up to a wooden chair with a thick, scratch, rope. The strange men stood in a circle surrounding her, some facing outwards and some weren't. They were told specifically by _him_ to not hurt the girl, just take her in as ransom.

Sakura spat to the ground next to her. "What do you guys want from me?" she hissed.

They ignored her and she screamed until one of them took notice. He was bald with a scar running down from his left eyebrow to his square jaw. "You are helpful to us, Sakura-san." He stated, plain and clear.

"Why me? I don't have anything with me, I'm not even filthy rich."

A grin appeared on the man's face, it sickened her. "Ah, but you have things that is deemed better than wealth." His face inched closer to her and whispered, "What you have is more valuable."

More valuable? That didn't make any sense to Sakura. She pondered silently at the possibilities of what is more valuable than wealth; connections? No, that cannot be it, she was the daughter of a salary-man. Her body stiffened. No. That must not be it. That man could not have meant sexual advantages. She was starting to sweat, heart beating quicker each second, when she snuck a glance to his face it was as emotional as a surface of a rock. She offered them no pleasure of that kind, she just _couldn't._

So Sakura began to cry. "Please, just let me out, I'll give you anything!"

The man scowled, annoyed at the sound of a girl crying. "Shut up—get her wrapped up again, annoying little _bitch._"

Someone came with the same red cloth and struggled, but eventually succeeded, into wrapping it around Sakura's mouth. Her face was now flushed red and moist from tears.

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"Get in that fucking place and find _Sakura_, now." Sasuke hissed and both Neji and Shikamaru nodded.

A group of people stood 10 feet away from the building. The darkness in which surrounded them made everyone felt certain uneasiness. Sasuke stared at the distant in front of him where the warehouse stood. It was abandoned, dilapidated and most of all completely secluded from public. There was a feeling in his gut when he thought of the things they could possibly have done to her; this made him angrier than he already was.

Kakashi extended an arm to stop the two bodyguards. "Not so fast, this place has some explosive devices planted." The masked man referred to the lump of freshly dug sand on the ground. "They want something."

Sasuke's cell phone rang. No number was displayed on his screen.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sasuke spat. "Where is she? What have you done to her?"

"_Easy Uchiha-san,"_ a smooth voice on the other line chuckled, "_We just want a nice favor from you, that's all. Do it and we will let the girl go. Don't comply, and we'll ship her away to a place you will never…find her." _

The young Uchiha narrowed his eyes, careful as to what he chose to reply the stranger with.

"Let her go, then I'll do as you want."

The stranger tsk-ed on the other line mockingly. "_No can do, Uchiha-san. Either you comply or she goes."_ Sasuke could hear a girl's cry in a distance, "_Hey, shut her up will you? Do it or I will."_ A crack resounded, something like a slap. Sasuke clenched his fist.

"Don't _hurt_ her or I will fucking kill you."

"_Then do as we say."_ The voice was no longer smooth and mockingly playful.

Sasuke silently cursed himself for giving in.

"_Good, the stubborn Uchiha-san finally has a soft spot. Now we are not telling you who we are, however, it is important for you to know that the record label you are working for is someone we are not quite…civil with. Let's just say they are more profitable in business than we are and it's not something we could let go lightly."_

The ravenette said nothing in return. The stranger continued.

"_Now here's the deal_—_sabotage that company. We want you to get us their confidential files all stored in their office. We give you one hour. Come back with the file and you get the girl."_

Sasuke's eyes opened ever so slightly. "One hour is not enough—"

A girl cried in a distant again with another slap.

"_One hour, or she goes."_ The line ended.

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"We have it."

Kakashi stared into his client's eyes. "Listen, Uchiha-san. You give them this file and your career is _over._"

Sasuke laughed without humor. "Isn't that what they wanted?" He lowers his gaze, "I'm willing to take that risk—now get Sakura."

Kakashi nodded, not quite sure if the Uchiha was making a sane decision. But a life in return was more precious than the fame and riches Sasuke was in for.

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"Sakura-chan!" Uzumaki Naruto shouted upon seeing the pinkette struggling on a chair.

Sakura's emerald eyes opened wide in shock. Sasuke was here, along with his masked manager, Kakashi-san. Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru. Naruto. They all came for her. Everyone was breathing heavily, like all of them had run a marathon of some kind.

The strange men blocked her view from them; a fight was brewing in the hot air.

"Let her go!" Sasuke shouted and Sakura could see visible veins around his forehead; tension.

The man with the scar scowled. "Hand us the files first, _Uchiha_."

Sasuke extended his arm, in his hand held a thick wide envelope. "I have them. Now she goes." Sasuke looked at Sakura who was whimpering in her seat. "Sakura, you're safe with us. Don't cry."

The cloth around her mouth had loosened up and fell onto the floor. She screamed. "SASUKE, BEHIND YOU!"

He turned to see someone with a steel pipe in his hand ready to swing at his head. He dodged it last minute and grabbed him by the arm, throwing the man to the ground. More came. One by one he punched right in the stomach while some received powerful blows to the face. There was blood and he could feel it on his hands, from his lips, some his and some weren't. He could taste the bitter coppery taste in his mouth.

Sakura was crying in the distance so they would stop hurting Sasuke but Neji and Shikamaru had most of the crowd taken care off. Kakashi ran towards the crying pinkette, untying her with smooth precision and releasing her from her sore position.

Kakashi tucked moist pink strands of hair behind her ear. "Sakura-san, you are not safe here. You must go. I had my people arrange a jet for you." The grey haired man helped her up and towards the door. "_Hurry_."

Sakura couldn't understand, she could not comprehend the situation at hand anymore than Naruto or Sasuke could. But Kakashi seemed to know more than he should. She cried, mumbling words along side "please" "what's going on" and "but what about Sasuke" however, the grey haired man only urged her out the building. Naruto, who was defending his friends, caught a quick glance at her, his eyes looked so blue with guilt that it churned in her stomach.

In her peripheral vision, Sakura could see the helicopter outside in the vast plain field, blades turning wildly against the night—the wind generated was powerful. She knew that this was the last night she would stay here. Last night and possibly the last time she would see Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto and everyone.

"Kakashi-san," her eyes filled with tears and she whimpered, "_Kakashi-san_, will Sasuke be okay? I can't go without saying goodbye!"

The young Uchiha was struggling against another potential blow to the head by a metal rod. He turned to look at Sakura, his face a mix of sweat, crimson and anger. "Go Sakura. I will find you. Right now, you have to leave."

"But Sasuke—" she was half crying, almost out the door.

He gritted his teeth from the force. "I will find you, Sakura."

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**Monday, 9:03 am**

**WEEKLY NEWS**

_**War Within The Fandom; **_

"_**The infamous Uchiha Sasuke created a massive uproar among fans when he did not show up in his concert. The record label now is filing a lawsuit against stolen work. Will this be the end of Sasuke's career?"**_

"Perfect." A man sat behind his large oak desk and folded the newspaper, storing it elsewhere. "Now make sure he never sees that girl again."

He spoke into the receiver and ended the call.

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**A/N: **I haven't been on for _so _long that I forgot how to update my chapters. I suck. Do you guys still love me? :c Review to make me happy? Or not. But it would be nice. Please? Pretty please?

_Iloveyoureaders._


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